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March 1st, 2013, 17:09 Posted By: wraggster
Reports indicate that Lucasart's highly anticipated next-gen title Star Wars 1313 has been halted following last year's acquisition by Disney.
Kotaku has received word from three different sources, all of which claim that development of the game is on hiatus. However, LucasArts has remains adamant that work on the title is on-going.
It is believed that following Disney's buyout of the Star Wars franchise, the brand has developed concerns over the title, particularly surrounding the title's failure to tie-in with the new Star Wars films, which were recently announced by Disney.
Initially revealed at last year's E3 expo in Los Angeles, Star Wars 1313 had already undergone significant revisions, with the game originally pegged as an open-world title, similar to fan-favourite Knights of the Old Republic.
However, budgetary concerns in 2010 saw the title scaled back, whilst the game saw a complete writing overhaul following the cancellation of the associated TV series.
Despite George Lucas himself reportedly sharing his excitement over the planned title, new owners Disney are believed to be not so enthusiastic towards releasing a game with no association to the new fins.
Given how impressive the game's unveiling at last year's E3 was, Star Wars fans and gamers alike will be hoping some from of deal can be reached in order for the title to reach its release.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...on-hold/030392
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March 1st, 2013, 17:13 Posted By: wraggster
Yesterday, iFixit released its first ‘tablet repairability’ list, revealing that the Dell XPS 10 is the easiest tablet out there to repair.
Closely followed by the Kindle Fire and the Dell Streak, the XPS 10 scored an impressive 9/10 due to its easy-to-open lid and removable battery.
The same could not be said for Microsoft’s Surface Pro which scored a measly 1. Read more about the difficulties of opening up the Windows 8 tablet here.
Apple didn’t fair much better, the iPad 2, 3, 4 and Mini all managed only a score of 2 each.
It seems the Surface RT is a tad easier to open up than its Pro counterpart and received a score of 4.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...es-last/030387
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March 1st, 2013, 17:14 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has announced it is to widen the availability of both its Surface tablet devices by introducing them to new markets.
The firm highlighted that both the Surface RT and Pro would be available in both the UK and additional countries "in coming months," with a roll-out set to begin around "late March."
Expansion of the Surface Pro will see the device make its way to the UK in addition to Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, China and Hong Kong.
Microsoft's decision to widen the device's availability comes at an interesting time, as the Surface Pro continues to suffer supply issues in the US and Canada, with the 128GB edition of the device recently selling out for the second time since its launch.
The device was even late for its debut in the US; with Microsoft initially stating the Pro would launch 90 days after the release of the standard RT Surface. However, the Surface Pro didn't emerge until well over 100 days after the original Surface became available.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is boosting the availability of the Surface RT tablet by releasing the device to countries including Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand, Russia and Mexico.
Success of the device sales-wise remains uncertain given the stock shortage of certain models of the Surface and the constant addition of new markets.
However, Microsoft is set to face greater competition as gaming manufacturer recently made its dedicated games tablet, the Razer Edge, available for pre-order.
Despite the Surface's label as the tablet for professionals, both devices offer similar specifications and the Pro edition of the Surface has even been proven to be a capable gaming device.
With both devices carrying price tags of close to the $1,000 mark, it will be interesting to see which of the devices comes out on top.
If Razer can effectively capture the gaming market, whilst avoiding the stock shortages the Surface has experience, it may very well take the edge – with, the uhm, Edge.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-the-uk/030386
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March 1st, 2013, 17:21 Posted By: wraggster
 Not that anyone really needs any further persuasion, but Blizzard again proves its mastery of CGI with the intro video to StarCraft II’s second episode, Heart Of The Swarm. The Zerg attack a Terran city, their flailing tentacles and purple slime befouling its wide and faintly European neoclassical boulevards. Facing them is the heavy metal of the Terran forces. Marines unload their rifles into the impact craters from the Zerg’s drop pods; Vikings are smashed by the tusks of stampeding Ultralisks. In a vast square, a line of dug-in Siege Tanks shells a tsunami of writhing talons, bone, spines and mucus.It’s the classic Zerg rush, then, and a tableau that more or less follows the action in the game itself, even if you’re not used to seeing it from such dramatic angles. And the Zerg – innumerable in all their oozing, chittering, pulsating and bursting horror – are the focus of this new expansion to StarCraft II. Which raises the question: why on Earth would anyone want to play a whole 20-mission singleplayer campaign as the Zerg? Especially when it follows the down-home grit of the Western-tinged first episode, Wings Of Liberty, which focused on the adventures of Jim Raynor and his gang of rebel Raiders as they faced up to the despotic reign of Emperor Mengsk.Blizzard’s answer is Kerrigan. Once a Terran – which is to say human – and even Raynor’s lover, Mengsk allowed her to be captured and infested by the Zerg all the way back in the original StarCraft. She then became the Queen Of Blades, the powerful psionic leader of the Zerg swarm. At the end of Wings Of Liberty, Raynor mostly restores her humanity, although she has other ideas about her fate. Heart Of The Swarm’s campaign follows her quest to reunite the Zerg swarm, which broke apart after her departure, and exact her revenge on Mengsk.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...like-the-zerg/
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March 1st, 2013, 17:24 Posted By: wraggster
UK retail giant GAME believes it is making significant strides in the PC download space with exclusive content deals.
The firm has a reputation for securing exclusive DLC for its boxed titles. The latest promotion sees GAME offer the 'Explorer Edition' of Tomb Raider. This is an exclusive version of the title for GAME, and offers gamers an additional tomb to explore and faster climbing skills.
But now, for the first time, this won't just be available to boxed games buyers, but those who choose to download the game via the retailer's website. A move GAME hopes will help it compete more aggressively with its big-name digital rivals, such as Steam, Origin, Gamersgate and Green Man Gaming.
GAME told MCV that this is the first in a series of downloadable exclusivity deals, as it looks to grow its digital business.
The firm isn't the only traditional retailer to make significant moves into the download space. ShopTo has also launched a Tomb Raider offer for download customers.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/game-...motion/0111722
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March 1st, 2013, 22:02 Posted By: wraggster
 It's been a while since we heard from Reef Entertainment's Rambo: The Video Game, but now the developer is back with news of added authenticity. The game will now feature the voices of both star Sylvester Stallone and Col. Trautman actor Richard Crenna. How could Reef possibly afford this?
"STUDIOCANAL, the owners of the Rambo films, searched their extensive archives and tracked down audio reels containing the original voice recording tapes for First Blood, First Blood Part II & Rambo III," a Reef rep said in the announcement. "These tapes provided us with the pristine vocal performances of Stallone and Crenna that we have included in the game." They were able to afford it by dealing with Sylvester Stallone in the past!
Reef also shared the images in our gallery, the first two of which, we're told, are of gameplay.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/01/ra...e-work-techni/
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March 4th, 2013, 18:47 Posted By: wraggster
Electronic Arts has announced the release of the first Sims expansion pack of 2013.
The Sims 3 University Life Expansion Pack launches in North America on March 5th with the rest of the world following throughout the week.
Brittany Henry, Producer for The Sims Studio expressed, “I’m thrilled for the release of The Sims 3 University Life this week. With new places to hang out and quirky features like dumpster diving, mural painting and protests, this pack really offers diversity and something fun for everyone to love.â€
The Sims 3 University Life offers a whole new world to explore that includes new venues, a campus quad, a lecture hall and new housing options such as dorms, fraternities, sororities and apartments.
While at university, Sims will find three social groups that are classified as jocks, rebels and nerds. Sims can build influence with each of these social groups, which leads to unique advantages such as earning dream jobs.
Players who order The Sims 3 University Life Expansion Pack on Origin.com will also get the exclusive School Spirit Pack with extra content including the Campus Cruiser vehicle, Head of the Class hairstyle and two new face paints to outfit your Sims in essential university style.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...is-week/030406
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March 4th, 2013, 18:52 Posted By: wraggster
Valve's survey shows Linux already accounts for two per cent of users
Valve's latest Steam survey shows Linux is already close to overtaking Mac in terms of user base.
Steam for Linux recently left beta testing, and is now available for download through the Ubuntu store.
But it isn't just Ubuntu users getting on board.
Linux Mint is also listed by name, with 0.17 per cent of users, and 0.14 per cent of users used some other 64 bit linux distribution.
All told, Linux accounts for 2.02 per cent of Steam users just a month after launch.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-gathers-Steam
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March 4th, 2013, 18:58 Posted By: wraggster
PC versions of triple-A releases still tend to get less love than the console SKUs, but profit still awaits those who properly plan a PC release.
That’s according to Capcom, which told True PC Gamingthat developing the PC version of DmC: Devil May Cry was not only stress-free, but also a financially viable move.
“If you do your job right on the console side you can generally develop a PC version quite reasonably from both a budget and production logistics standpoint,†Capcom America’s senior producer Alex Jones stated.
“We had the advantage of using a top notch PC development house which makes life infinitely easier. As of the reason: since we knew we would only be running the console version at 30fps and that many super hardcore DMC players would insist on 60fps the only option for fulfilling that desire would be a PC version.â€
Of course, the other thing to remember about the PC market is that much of it is hidden. While on the face of it the PC versions of games such as Crysis 3 command only a tiny portion of the market share (according to ChartTrack numbers), their digital sales are likely very strong.
And the good news for PC gamers is that with the next-gen consoles sporting increasingly PC-like architectures, releasing PC SKUs is liable to be cheaper than ever for publishers going forwards.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/there...capcom/0111814
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March 4th, 2013, 22:17 Posted By: wraggster
Gaming on Linux is growing fast right now, and most of that is thanks to Steam. Initially, Steam committed only to the most popular desktop distribution, Ubuntu, but more recently has opened the door to others. So what do you do when you want to game in Linux and you're using something a little less popular — at least, on the desktop? If you're a programmer called GhostSquad57, you rewrite the installer for Debian. GhostSquad57 uploaded his efforts to Github yesterday, and has since reached out to the Linux community.http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/0...ler-for-debian
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March 4th, 2013, 22:25 Posted By: wraggster
Valve has revealed Steam’s latest top selling titles list, with Tomb Raider running to the peak position in its chart debut.
The game’s victory in its initial week of availability may not even be the most impressive feat on its own chart however, as Call of Duty Black Ops II and its DLC packages collectively finished third, fourth, and fifth behind Bioshock Infinite.
Skyrim and its Dragonborn DLC also grabbed two spots on the board, leaving little room for much else during the final week in February.
- Tomb Raider
- Bioshock Infinite
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Revolution
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Season Pass
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Skyrim – Dragonborn
- Arma II: Combined Operations
- Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army
- Mark of the Ninja
- Skyrim and Fallen Enchantress
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/steam...arch-2/0111779
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March 4th, 2013, 23:47 Posted By: wraggster
Paramount's forthcoming Star Trek tie-in game is looking to distance itself from the negativity surrounding fellow big name sci-fi outing Aliens: Colonial Marines by delivering an authentic experience that pools all the talent of the big screen version, according to its producers.There have probably been better times to release licensed games. Just when the well-worn adage that licensed games are uniformly awful looks to be put to bed by the likes of Rocksteady's Batman games, along comes a scrappy mess like Aliens: Colonial Marines to prove that you're never truly safe in the world of tie-ins.Due out at the end of April and in the run-up to the second instalment of JJ Abram's hugely successful series reboot, Star Trek's proximity to the release of Gearbox's woeful Aliens: Colonial Marines ensure that the most obvious question is what can this game do differently to make sure it doesn't fall in the same trap?"Our goal was to make the most authentic Star Trek game we could," said Paramount's Brian Miller. "We're not a licensed game - we're funding this and making this ourselves. A traditional licensed game, you get a licensor and say they'll give you some money to make the game. This is a game that we're making in-house, and it's been funded by Paramount Pictures from day one.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...lonial-marines
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March 4th, 2013, 23:48 Posted By: wraggster
The latest version of Skyrim is up and running in beta mode on Steam, available to those who opt-in through their Steam clients now. Aside from various bug fixes, the update adds a new Legendary difficulty mode and the ability to roll skills at level 100 into Legendary status, resetting those skills to level 15 for continued development.
Console versions of Skyrim should get version 1.9 later on this month, the Bethesda Blog says. Last month, the PS3 version of Skyrim was updated to 1.8and finally started catching up on DLC, culminating in the release ofDawnguard on February 26.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/04/sk...ls-and-diffic/
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March 6th, 2013, 01:04 Posted By: wraggster
A new report from IDC reveals that the PC market is set to continue its decline in 2013.
Disappointing holiday sales, an underwhelming reception to Windows 8, and continuing economic malaise have been blamed for the lacklustre sales during the second half of 2012.
This lead to a year-on-year decline of 8.3 per cent in Q4 shipments, the most substantial decline recorded for a holiday quarter.
"The PC market is still looking for updated models to gain traction and demonstrate sufficient appeal to drive growth in a very competitive market," said Loren Loverde, program vice president, Worldwide PC Trackers at IDC.
"Growth in emerging regions has slowed considerably, and we continue to see constrained PC demand as buyers favour other devices for their mobility and convenience features. We still don't see tablets (with limited local storage, file system, lesser focus on traditional productivity, etc.) as functional competitors to PCs – but they are winning consumer dollars with mobility and consumer appeal nevertheless."
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ve-year/030417
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March 6th, 2013, 01:14 Posted By: wraggster
As tablets and cell phones become more and more important to the computing landscape, Intel is increasingly having a hard time keeping its chips on the forefront of the industry, with x86 architecture failing to find much success in mobile. The question that arises: Why is Intel so wedded to x86 chips? Well, over the past thirty years, Intel has tried and failed to move away from the x86 architecture on multiple occasions, with each attempt undone by technical, organizational, and short-term market factors
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...intel-kill-x86
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March 6th, 2013, 01:21 Posted By: wraggster
Many PC gamer’s worst fears have come to fruition with news that EA’s Origin servers have crippled the US launch of SimCity.
It’s yet another example of a primarily single player game being borked by a publisher’s insistence of implementing internet-centric DRM in a title.
RockPaperShotgun reports that gamers trying to boot up the game this morning are being thrust to the back of a 30-minute queue.
The most worrying thing is that these troubles have arisen after the game’s launch in just one country – SimCity doesn’t release in Europe until the end of the week.
The news is a real blow both for the game and for EA.
Early reviews of SimCity have been largely positive, but concerned noise is already increasing online – not only because of its dependence on external servers but also for various design decisions in the game itself, such as the strangely small city size restrictions.
Origin already lacked popularity in PC gaming circles, and with the likes of even the mighty Blizzard fluffing its Diablo III launch server capacity last year, the launch of SimCity was a real chance to gain favour.
A chance that could well be missed if the situation isn’t resolved quickly.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/origi...launch/0111851
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March 6th, 2013, 01:37 Posted By: wraggster
Over on the xda developers forum, [exception13] shows us the work he’s put into geting Debian running on his Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, allowing him to dual boot Android and Linux on a single device.
The project is still in a fairly early state, but so far [exception13] has most of the goodies required for a decent Linux experience running already. There’s WiFi, bluetooth, sound, usb-otg and touchscreen support, as well as support for the Note’s S Pen, the Wacom digitizer that basically turns the Galaxy Note 10.1 into an Intuos touch pad.
There’s still a lot of work work to be done, including getting the camera up and running, as well as enabling the GPS receiver. Still, it’s a very cool project that puts the power of a proper desktop interface into a tablet with enough horsepower to get something useful done.
If you’d like to get this running on your Galaxy Note, [exception13] has a download avaiableover on Google Code. There’s also a video [exception13] put together demoing all the cool stuff his Note can do, you can check that out after the break.
http://hackaday.com/2013/03/05/turni...per-linux-box/
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March 6th, 2013, 01:39 Posted By: wraggster
Gabe Newell revealed some information about the Steam Box in an interview with the BBC at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Games Awards. "We'll be giving out some prototypes to customers to gauge their reactions, I guess, in the next three to four months Newell told the BBC reporter. "It's the openness and flexibility of a PC done in a way that makes it work well in a living room. There are noise issues and heat issues, and being able to do that while still offering a powerful enough gaming experience is the challenge in building it."
Newell also said that Valve is continuing to work on controllers for the Steam Box, and experimenting with biometrics in order to improve the game experience. "If you think of a game like Left For Dead - which was trying to put you into a sort of horror movie - if you don't change the experience of what the player is actually feeling then it stops being a horror game," Newell said. He noted the possibility of the game being aware of the player's response to the action in order to change what the game to increase the desired player emotion.
Newell noted that the new generation of consoles coming up are also based on the PC architecture, which he feels is a good thing. "The nice thing is that all the consoles are moving in the direction of PCs," Newell said. "It's great to see that that's occurring."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...g-in-3-4months
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March 6th, 2013, 01:45 Posted By: wraggster
 We've known that game company and Steam operator Valve Software was going to offer prototypes of its hardware to Steam users for some time, but company head Gabe Newell niw says that those prototypes will start arriving in the next three to four months time. Moreover, beyond just the controllers we suspected to be part of the beta program, Newell tells the BBC that said prototypes will be of the Steambox, Valve's living room-friendly PC gaming initiative. "We're working with partners trying to nail down how fast we can make it," Newell said.
He cited noise and heat concerns as the holdup for retail availability of various Steamboxes -- both Valve itself and a variety of third-party companies are working on the initiative,including Xi3 and unnamed others. He also speculated about what control device might be included in various Steambox setups (the systems are said to range in power and price, from low to very high). He did posit that some form of biological monitoring would be built into a potential Valve game controller (biometrics). "You need to actually be able to directly measure how aroused the player is -- what their heart rate is, things like that -- in order to offer them a new experience each time they play," Newell said. He also cited the controller as a current roadblock in making the Steambox available. "The main thing that's holding us up right now is nailing ... we have a couple of different controller prototypes that we're using, and that's one of the things that we're giving to customers," he added. Valve is apparently planning on including a handful of controllers with Steambox prototypes in its upcoming beta, so that users can give feedback for each and Valve can break down how players are using them.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/05/v...box-beta-2013/
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March 6th, 2013, 02:06 Posted By: wraggster
"People always bang on about PC dying", Dom Starr, the campaign designer of Total War: Rome 2, told Eurogamer.People started banging on about PC dying after publishers turned their backs on desktops when this generation - PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 - began. Console-led development - even multi-platform development - was all the rage.Today of course it's a different matter: the PC gaming scene is bursting with life (and money) and the PC versions are the ones publishers brag about. "Ridiculous."
But there's a new console generation kicking off proper this Christmas. Creative Assembly's Total War series weathered the last storm - does Dom Starr see rough seas ahead now?"I don't think PC is in any danger of dying," Starr answered. "I think that's ridiculous."If anything, the fact that the new console, PS4, seems to pretty much be an adapted PC just goes to show that the platform is strong and [we're] likely to not see the death of it any time soon."Total War is one example of a "very different" gaming experience available on PC, Starr highlighted. But could Total War be on console?Series overseer Mike Simpson told me it wasn't an issue of controller input holding Total War back from console: it was an issue of raw machine power.Cue PlayStation 4 which, among other impressive components, features a whopping 8GB of GDDR5 RAM. How about Total War on console now?"I believe the canned-response to that tends to be it's always something that's being considered and it's a possibility, but beyond that no comment," responded Dom Starr."Personally I think it would be nice to have Total War on console, get the experience to people who aren't necessarily PC gamers."He added: "You'd have to adapt a fair bit if for a joypad controller. Something like the Wii U might be easier to do some - drawing battle lines, moving the units around in a bit more of an organic way."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...iculous-notion
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March 6th, 2013, 13:51 Posted By: wraggster
via http://www.emucr.com/
OpenTTD v1.3.0-RC2 is released. OpenTTD is an open source simulation game based upon the popular Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe", written by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features.
Features
OpenTTD is modelled after the original Transport Tycoon game by Chris Sawyer and enhances the game experience dramatically. Many features were inspired by TTDPatch while others are original.
Significant enhancements from the original game include:
bigger maps (up to 64 times in size)
stable multiplayer mode for up to 255 players in 15 companies, or as spectators
dedicated server mode and an in-game console for administration
IPv6 and IPv4 support for all communication of the client and server
in game downloading of AIs, NewGRFs, scenarios and heightmaps
new pathfinding algorithms that makes vehicles go where you want them to
autorail/-road build tool, improved terraforming
canals, shiplifts, aqueducts
larger, non-uniform stations and the ability to join them together
mammoth and multi-headed trains
different configurable models for acceleration of vehicles
clone, autoreplace and autoupdate vehicles
the possibility to build on slopes and coasts
advanced/conditional orders, share and copy orders
longer and higher bridges including several new designs, plus fully flexible tracks/roads under bridges
reworked airport system with many more airports/heliports (e.g. international and metropolitan)
presignals, semaphores, path based signalling
support for TTDPatch NewGRF features offering many options for graphics and behaviour configuration/modification
drive-through road stops for articulated road vehicles and trams
multiple trees on one tile
bribe the town authority
many configuration settings to tune the game to your liking
save games using zlib compression for smaller sizes, while not interrupting gameplay
significant internationalisation support. OpenTTD has already been translated into over 50 languages
dynamically created town names in 18 languages, plus NewGRF support for additional languages
freely distributable graphics, sounds and music
framework for custom (user) written AIs
zooming further out in the normal view and zooming out in the small map
Lots of effort has been put into making OpenTTD easy to use. These include:
convert rail tool (to electrified rail, monorail, and maglev)
drag&drop support for almost all tools (demolition, road/rail building/removing, stations, scenario editor, etc)
sorting of most lists based on various criteria (vehicle, station, town, industries, etc.)
mouse wheel support (scroll menus, zoom in/out)
autoscroll when the mouse is near the edge of the screen/window
sell whole train by dragging it to the dynamite trashcan
cost estimation with the 'shift' key
advanced options configuration window, change settings from within the game
Graphical/interface features:
screenshots can be in BMP, PNG or PCX format (select in game options menu)
more currencies (including Euro introduction in 2002)
extra viewports to view more parts of the game world at the same time
resolution and refresh rate selection for fullscreen mode
colourful newspaper after a certain date
colour coded vehicle profits
game speed increase (through fast forward button or by pressing the TAB key)
snappy and sticky windows that always stay on top and neatly align themselves to other windows
more hotkeys for even less mouse-clicking
support for 32 bit graphics
support for right-to-left languages
support for other (sized) fonts where the user interface scales based on the font and translation
OpenTTD v1.3.0-RC2 Changelog:
Fix: Make sizes of the station preview list and direction selection identical in the station build window [FS#5472] (r25064)
- Fix: When allocation of the sprite cache fails, try to allocate less memory and display an error message later on (r25061)
- Fix: Refactor Script Debug GUI to only set widget states in OnInvalidateData [FS#5490] (r25052)
- Fix: Do not let gcc include files from the "standard C" include directories to avoid inclusion of header files at the top of the preprocessed nfo files, which cause NFOrenum/GRFcodec to make invalid assumptions about the NFO version (r25050)
- Fix: Minimise gaps feature caused removal to only happen at the signal build interval instead of the implicit interval of 1 [FS#5479] (r25038)
- Fix: Green path signals would be shown when building them 'under' a train, and they would keep showing green until they were passed again [FS#5480] (r25037
http://www.openttd.org/en/download-testing
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March 6th, 2013, 23:27 Posted By: wraggster
The European Commission has fined Microsoft over its failure to promote rival web browsers, other than its own Internet Explorer.
Despite introducing a browser selection screen to its operating systems in March 2010 as result of a previous EU investigation, the feature was subsequently removed in an update to the firm's Windows 7 OS in February 2011.
As a result, the EU Commission has fined the firm $731 (£484m) over the failings.
Microsoft has maintained that the removal of the feature was simply a result of a 'technical error'.
"We take full responsibility for the technical error that caused this problem and have apologised for it," said a Microsoft spokesperson.
"We provided the Commission with a complete and candid assessment of the situation, and we have taken steps to strengthen our software development and other processes to help avoid this mistake - or anything similar - in the future."
However, the EU commission has continued to take action against the firm in order to prevent others firms from similar activity.
Tony Woodgate, a lawyer from Simmons & Simmons, told the BBC: "The European Commission is sending a firm signal in this first case of its type that it will not tolerate failure by a company to comply with the commitments it gave to settle an antitrust infringement procedure."
Microsoft could have potentially faced an even larger fine over the issue, as the EU Commission could have fine the firm up to ten per cent of its global annual revenue, which based on a 2012 earnings report, would have resulted in a figure close to $7.4bn.
Issues over Microsoft's web browser offering date back to 2007, when Norwegian firm Opera complained that Microsoft had stifled browser competition on PCs by strictly offering Internet Explorer with its operating systems.
Initially arguing that the move benefitted users rather than hindered them, Microsoft introduced the browser selection pop-up in order to avoid a fine from the EU Commission.
Throughout the period following the removal of the selection screen, Microsoft believes it had still adhered to the agreement – a statement disputed by the Commission, which found the firm had ultimately abused its position.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ictions/030435
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March 6th, 2013, 23:28 Posted By: wraggster
Brits accumulate more hours online than our European neighbours despite flagging web speeds, a study by Ofcom has found.
The UK regulator found that 81 per cent of Brits log-on at least once per week, beating the likes of Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
But whilst more Britons access the web that any of our European counterparts, the country still struggles to compete when it comes to speed online.
The study, which looked at 65 per cent of British homes, found the country to have only the third fastest connection speeds in Europe behind both Spain and Germany, but still beating out France and Italy.
However, Ofcom's survey failed to take into consideration wider European countries, many of which boast faster speeds than the UK.
The findings will provide plenty of work for the coalition government, which plans to work with infrastructure partners including BT in order to provide the UK with the fastest speeds in Europe by 2015.
Interestingly, despite the lacklustre speeds, UK web users are able to benefit from some of the cheapest broadband services in comparison with other countries on the continent.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ections/030430
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March 6th, 2013, 23:30 Posted By: wraggster
PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies the first Western title to debut on company's app store.
Cross-platform games specialist Antix Labs provides companies with a tool that allows gamers to transport their gameplay across devices, continuing play from phone, tablet, and TV, as they see fit.
Having debuted the Antix Game Player (AGP) in Indonesia back in October, the firm now announces PT MLW Telecom-owned OEM SpeedUp is the latest regional business to employ use of the games solution to enhance the SpeedUp Studio app store.
The AGP will be preloaded on new SpeedUp tablets, the Pad Pro and Pad Ice, thus allowing owners to play and share titles across their phones, TVs, set-top boxes and beyond. What's more, Popcap's Plants vs. Zombies is confirmed as the first Western game to launch on the revamped platform.
Rahmad Sakti, director product and marketing at SpeedUp, said: "The Indonesian telecommunication networks, like many in Southeast Asia, are faced with structural challenges, making them neither consistently fast enough nor reliable enough to meet the insatiable demands of consumers to discover and download games.
"The Antix Game Player relieves the frustration caused by these challenges, making every coffee shop meeting between friends into an opportunity to get new games. No other service or technology on the planet provides this level of integration across devices. While other companies continue to struggle with fragmentation and network dependencies, SpeedUp and Antix together are delivering the
right solution at exactly the right time."
Francis Charig, founder, Antix, said: "Comprehensive game services in growth and emerging markets must take into account local infrastructure and behavioural issues to satisfy the local demographic and their service providers.
"SpeedUp is opening up channels for western content into the world’s fourth most populous nation and is providing the first iteration of Plants vs. Zombies using a freemium user payment model all running on the Antix Game Player and service. By having this integrated with operator billing, SpeedUp has taken the Indonesian game market forward dramatically so I think this will be seen as a significant development by those looking to address growth and emerging economies."
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...-player/020795
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March 6th, 2013, 23:33 Posted By: wraggster
Blake Jorgensen backtracks on previous comments that business model would become standard
Microtransactions will not be used in all of EA’s future games, the publisher’s chief financial officer has said.
As reported by Polygon, speaking at the Wedbush Technology Conference, Blake Jorgensen clarified comments made last week that suggested EA would use microtransactions in all of its future games, by stating that this was not actually the case.
He further clarified the core of the microtransactions business would be in the mobile space, rather than other platforms such as console.
"I made a statement in the conference along the lines of 'We'll have micro-transactions in our games' and the community read that to mean all our games, and that's really not true," he said.
"All of our mobile games will have micro-transactions in them, because almost all of them are going to a world where they are play for free."
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...l-future-games
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March 6th, 2013, 23:35 Posted By: wraggster
Server crash leads to questions over publisher's switch to always online verification
EA has made several apologies immediately following the release of its refreshed SimCity game, which was unable to cope with the steep demand and has left players without the ability to play at all.
The restored city-building strategy game requires that users log into EA’s servers before they can play. It was released in North American on Tuesday, and is due to arrive in Europe this Friday.
EA’s handling of the launch has been called into question, as US customers complain about not being able to log in and play after ongoing attempts.
This form of online direct rights management, or DRM, has caused frustration before. Last year, the huge demand for Blizzard’s Diablo III knocked its servers offline, andconnection problems in South Korea forced the publisher to refund customers.
EA released a statement to its North American owners, which said: “The SimCity servers are currently inundated with the masses of eager mayors attempting to govern their cities.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-server-issues
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March 6th, 2013, 23:51 Posted By: wraggster
 Company of Heroes 2 will be released on June 25th in North America and Europe, Sega has confirmed.New publisher Sega bought developer Relic Entertainment for $26.6m in the THQ bankruptcy sale, narrowly outbidding Bethesda owner Zenimax, which bid $26.3m.“Our acquisition by Sega has given us the chance to work with a new partner that has a great track record of working with long standing PC franchises, It gives us great confidence to know that we have a well aligned team working to bring the best experience we can to gamers around the world,†explained Company Of Heroes 2’s executive producer Jonathan Dowdeswell.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/comp...ate-confirmed/
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March 7th, 2013, 00:05 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has suggested that its plans for the Kinect camera include laptops and tablets, and has shown off a slimmer and smaller version of the device.
"You want to be as cheap as possible and physically as small as possible," Craig Mundie, senior advisor to the CEO at Microsoft, told The Verge
"My dream is to get a Kinect into the bezel of something like this [Surface tablet]." He added that the company can also "see a path towards" including the technology in laptops, despite the technical difficulties that such a task represented.
The report also hinted that the reporter had seen a Kinect 2, featuring a smaller, more slender sensor, but Microsoft refused to confirm that it was in fact the next-generation version of the device. Industry rumours have suggested that the next-generation Xbox will come equipped with a new and improved Kinect camera.
In fact the latest leaks on the new Microsoft machine list better resolution, a new infra-red sensor, an upgrade to USB 3.0 and better colour and depth streams.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...and-in-laptops
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March 7th, 2013, 00:10 Posted By: wraggster
There were plenty of Office users none too pleased with Microsoft's recent decision to tie Office 2013 retail licenses to the PC they were originally installed on, and it looks like the company has been listening to them. Microsoft announced in a blog post today that it's changing the policy, and will now allow users to transfer the license if they get a new PC or the old one fails. The company says that it will update the actual license agreement included with the software in a future release, but makes it clear that the change is effective immediately. Of course, there are still some limitations. You can't transfer the license more than once every 90 days unless there's a hardware failure, and you still can't have the software on more than one computer at the same time. You can find the full text of the new license at the source link.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/06/m...-transferable/
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March 7th, 2013, 00:13 Posted By: wraggster
 We already know that Samsung was too timid (or maybe too sensible) to launch its Windows RT-based ATIV Tab hybrid in the US, but now it appears the manufacturer is having doubts about European demand too. Heise.de and our friends atMobileGeeks are reporting that Samsung will stop selling its ATIV Tab in Germany -- Europe's biggest economy -- and some other unspecified European countries after speaking to retailers about the level of interest they're seeing for Microsoft'sstripped down OS. This European retreat is said to have been confirmed by Samsung execs at CeBIT in Hanover, andMobileGeeks editor Sascha Pallenberg told us that the Korean company simply "sees no market for RT in Germany and other European countries." We've asked Samsung for further clarification and we'll update this post as soon as we hear back. As things stand, the ATIV Tab is still listed for sale by Amazon.de priced at 605 euros.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/06/s...v-tab-germany/
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March 7th, 2013, 00:16 Posted By: wraggster
Valve has released a Linux version of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, their fifth port for the operating system.  Condition Zero joins Team Fortress 2, Half-Life, Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike: Source, with plenty more to come. There are currently 80 titles available for Linux on Steam.Valve's forthcoming Steam Box will use Linux, so it's likely that Valve will port all of its games to the operating system in time for the device's rumoured 2014 launch.Valve's own Steam Box is expected to be shown at this month's Game Developers Conference.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ble-for-linux/
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March 7th, 2013, 23:45 Posted By: wraggster
EA has said it is working against the clock to fix issues surrounding the UK launch of SimCity, which becomes available tonight at midnight.
SimCity's launch in the US has been marred by server troubles and reports of players unable to access the game due to the title's 'always online' internet DRM.
Problems surrounding EA's digital download service Origin continue to linger, whilst players are unable to play the game – even the single player mode – due to high server traffic.
Ahead of the game's UK launch tonight, EA has told PCR's sister publication MCV that it is working to have any issues fixed ahead of the midnight launch.
“We are experiencing extremely high server volume and it’s preventing some players from gaining access to the game,†said an EA spokesperson, “Our server team is working around the clock to resolve this issue so that we can get the rest of our fans into the game.
However, the publisher maintains that some issues may linger throughout the launch and could potentially extend into the weekend.
“We are aggressively undergoing maintenance on our servers to add the necessary capacity to meet the demand. Players may continue to play throughout the weekend but we want to note that performance will fluctuate during this time. We thank our fans for their continued patience.â€
The issues have certainly riled up fans of the title, who have been quick to criticise EA over the game's launch and its failure to accurately anticipate the sheer popularity for the game.
As a result, SimCity's rating on review aggregation site Metacritic has nosedived. Despite largely positive reviews from critics, with the game scoring 82 out of 100, the user-managed voting system has plunged to just 2 out of 10 as players vent their frustrations over their inability to play the game.
EA will need to find a solution to the problems quickly, as the largely celebrated title leaves a sour taste in the mouths of prospective players who're unable to play due to much-criticised DRM restrictions.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-launch/030449
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March 8th, 2013, 00:21 Posted By: wraggster
The team at SimCity developer Maxis has pledged that they won’t rest until the game is working correctly.
At the time of writing connection problems are still blighting players in North America and Australia, and with the UK release just hours away gamers are rightly concerned about their chances of playing the title from midnight tonight.
“This has been an exciting and challenging week for the team here at Maxis, the culmination years of planning and development,†Maxis senior producer Kip Katsarelis said on the EA forums.
“We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and enthusiasm from our fans which has made it even more upsetting for us that technical issues have become more prominent in the last 24 hours. We are hitting a number of problems with our server architecture which has seen players encountering bugs and long wait times to enter servers. This is, obviously, not the situation we wanted for our launch week and we want you to know that we are putting everything we have at resolving these issues.
“What we are doing is deploying more servers over the coming two days which will alleviate many of the ongoing issues. We are also paying close attention to all the bug reports we are receiving from our fans. We’ve already pushed several updates in the last few days. Our live ops team is working 24/7 to resolve issues and ensure that bug fixes roll into the game as quickly as possible.
“While the ongoing issues are troubling, we can also see that players are really enjoying the game. In a single 24 hour period, there were more than 38 million buildings plopped down, nearly 7 and a half million kilometers of roads laid down, 18+ million fires started and (my favourite fact) over 40 million pipes filled up with poop.
“This team has put everything into this game and won’t stop until things are smooth. We ask our fans to be patient as our team works diligently to fix the issues. We share your passion for SimCity and thank you for your support and understanding.â€
In the interim, however, EA’s reputation continues to take a hit online, with claims that the company is now refusing to process refund requests – despite suggestions that it was indeed willing to do so.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/maxis...-fixed/0112041
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March 8th, 2013, 00:41 Posted By: wraggster
Sega has announced Parthia as the seventh of eight playable factions in Rome 2: Total War.Joining the Roman, Carthage, Macedon, Iceni, Arverni and Suebi factions previously revealed, Parthia is profiled on the Total War Wiki.Here's a description: "Swift riders clad in glittering scale-armour, the horsemen of the Parthian empire are exotic and truly formidable opponents in open-field battles. Displaying rare levels of tolerance and fairness in government, the Parthians are skilled statesmen, and their way of life represents a unique blend of Persian, Hellenistic and local cultures."  The latest Rome 2: Total War trailer centred on The Battle of Teutoburg Forest, a playable historical battle in which the Roman Empire suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Germanic tribes.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...vealed-screen/
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March 8th, 2013, 00:42 Posted By: wraggster
Garry's Mod, the digital world construction kit which uses Half-Life 2 physics and assets, is said to have generated "about $22 million" for its creators Facepunch Studios.  GMod allows users to manipulate Half-Life 2 charactersBut according to software creator Garry Newman, the bankable figure is "less than half" of the revenue."Over 7 years, GMod has made about 22 million dollars," Newman said on his personalblog."We get less than half of that though. Then the tax man gets a bunch of that. Then when we take money out of the company the tax man gets a bunch of that too."Newman also confirmed the group is working on a new PC game, as well as adapting Garry's Mod for the Linux OS."Hopefully we're gonna get the Linux version out. Then hopefully we'll move to SteamPipe, and I'll get the NextBot stuff hooked up. then I want to do another Gamemode Contest," he said."But I want to knock out a bunch of game mode creating tutorials first to help people get their foot in the door."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ue-put-at-22m/
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March 8th, 2013, 00:47 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has announced Age of Empires 2 HD Edition, a re-release of the historic RTS exclusively for Steam.The new version is due to launch worldwide on 9th April.But those who pre-purchase the game (at a 10 per cent discount) can gain access sooner - on 5th April.The HD Edition includes every campaign from the game's Conquerors expansion, online play, 1080p HD support and a new set of textures.Steamworks integration means the game now has achievements, leaderboards, matchmaking and cloud support, while Workshop features have been built in to enable the sharing of user-generated content.It's all being developed by Hidden Path Entertainment of Counter Strike: Global Offensive fame.The game's first trailer and system requirements lie below.Minimum System Requirements: - Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 Pro
- Steam Software Platform
- 900x600 minimum display resolution
- Direct X 9 Capable GPU
- 1.2GHz CPU
- 1GB RAM
- 2GB HDD
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...eam-next-month
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March 10th, 2013, 15:50 Posted By: wraggster
Despite a controversial US release earlier this week, SimCity has launched successfully in the UK – all be it with a number of features disabled.
Whilst gamers across the pond have suffered multiple issues with EA's newest title, UK players have reported few issues following the title's midnight launch, with the ability to log onto the SimCity servers and access the game.
However, this is likely a result of the publisher's decision to offer an additional European server in order to alleviate high traffic, which has been highlighted as the source of the game's problems, whilst also disabling some of SimCity's "non-critical" system features, including the game's cheetah gameplay speed.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for US users and additional players from the rest of Europe, as EA remains under fire for the game's troublesome launch, which has left many users who pre-ordered the game unable to play.
Reports of server crashes and the inability to log in to EA's Origin service, which is required in order to play the game, were widely reported following SimCity's midnight launch in the US earlier in the week.
Players have criticised the publishers inclusion of 'always-online' DRM, which requires a constant internet connection to play – even the title's single player mode. As a result of the technology, the game's servers have struggled with high usage and resulted in a number of crashes and long queue times for users, many of whom have been unable to access the game at all.
The issues grew so bad that online retailer Amazon halted orders of SimCity in the US, stating: "Many customers are having issues connecting to the SimCity servers. EA is actively working to resolve these issues, but at this time we do not know when the issue will be fixed."
In the wake of server issues, EA has taken heavy fire over its handling of the situation, with users reportedly refused refunds of the product – and even threatened with bans over repeated requests.
On such user posted a screenshot of their conversation with an EA customer advisor, which has since gone viral. The advisor appears to threaten the user in question with a ban for demanding a refund, despite an earlier EA statement detailing that disgruntled users could in fact request them as a result of the problems.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-launch/030463
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March 10th, 2013, 15:51 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has said it will make Office 2013 licenses transferable following fallout from users who condemned the firm's initial restrictions.
Users will now be able to switch their software's license to a different machine every 90 days – or even sooner in the event of system failure.
Despite introducing a host of new features, Office 2013 also brought in an amendment to the software's licensing terms, which prohibited users from transferring their product license to another machine – even in the case of loss or theft.
Initially the software was tied to a user's specific system, which meant that once the user has sold, broken or upgraded to a new machine, the license was effectively rendered useless.
Microsoft has moved to settle unsatisfied users by allowing Office 2013 licenses to be transferable between machines, whilst addressing further concerns over damaged machines. However, it remains unclear if a user will be granted the opportunity to transfer their license in the event of loss or theft.
The firm has updated the licensing terms of its newest Office product, which now mirror those of Office 2010, stating: "Can I transfer the software to another computer or user? You may transfer the software to another computer that belongs to you, but not more than one time every 90 days (except due to hardware failure, in which case you may transfer sooner)."
"If you transfer the software to another computer, that other computer becomes the 'licensed computer'."
Microsoft has said the changes are immediate and will now apply to all of its Office products, including Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013, Microsoft Office Home and Business 2013, Microsoft Office Professional 2013 and the standalone Microsoft Office 2013 software.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...acklash/030460
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March 10th, 2013, 15:54 Posted By: wraggster
Consumers are increasingly turning to tablet devices to access the web over smartphones, a report by Adobe Digital Index has found.
Analysing over a thousand websites and 100 billion unique visits, the ADI report found that eight per cent of these monthly visits were by tablet devices, overtaking smartphones, which accounted for seven per cent.
Whilst analysts continue to predict the death of the traditional PC, Adobe's data tells a very different story, as the PC continues to maintain a comfortable lead boasting an 84 per cent share.
The report highlights the explosive growth of tablet devices, which have only recently begun to be owned by most consumers as increased competition drives down prices and lower-priced devices are increasingly introduced.
Despite Apple's flagship iPad surging demand for such devices after its introduction just three years ago, the tablet has quickly gained popularity amongst consumers in order to overtake the smartphone – which has been available for over a decade – as the preferred mobile device for accessing the web.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-device/030457
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March 10th, 2013, 15:55 Posted By: wraggster
With word on the street that Microsoft is about to implement Windows 8 discounts to PC makers, touch-screen laptops could soon receive price cuts as a result.
Initially reported by Digitime, the site claims sources at Taiwanese retailers have anticipated that discounts between 10 and 20 per cent are on the way.
The move is expected to boost sales of such devices by as much as double, from the current ten per cent, up to 20 per cent.
Microsoft is widely expected to lower the costs of its latest Windows 8 operating system for PC manufacturers in response to lacklustre sales, with many firms calling out for such a price cut in the hopes of reviving interest in products, which simply aren't selling.
The move isn't simply limited to touch-screen laptops either, with may predicting that lower-cost Windows 8 tablets and hybrid devices will follow.
Bob O'Donnell, IDC analyst told CNET: "The problem is the PC market is horribly stalled so they have make some pretty dramatic moves to reignite the market."
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...se-fees/030452
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March 10th, 2013, 16:05 Posted By: wraggster
The SimCity launch earlier this week was a complete disaster. Single player games that require an Internet connection to enable forced multiplayer features (as well as acting as a form of DRM) is bad enough, but then to not be prepared for the demand such a popular franchise has, well, that's just dumb, and Lucy Bradshaw, EA's general manager for the Maxis Label,has admitted exactly that."They did not provide much details, but supposedly anyone who has SimCity now should get "a free PC download game from the EA portfolio." They are unrepentant about the always-online requirement though.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/0...aunch-problems
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March 10th, 2013, 22:06 Posted By: wraggster
Valve's entry into the console market is a thrilling prospect, but this isn't about a war between Open and Closed ecosystems
[h=3]Valve Corporation[/h]
Steam Box prototypes will be in the wild for customer testing in the next three to four months, according to Gabe Newell. Valve has given up on pretending that it's not interested in the hardware game; its ambitions are now pretty clear, and somewhat wider than we expected. Where once the concept of a Steam Box was thought to be simply a minimum set of specs for PC manufacturers to follow in order to get a "Steam Powered" sticker on their boxes, now Newell talks openly about the nitty gritty of hardware challenges like heat and noise management, or building biometric sensors into the custom controller for the console.
"While Steam is an amazing distribution platform that has massively boosted the reach of PC gaming, in many ways it's just as much a walled garden as any of the consoles"
A great many people are hugely excited about the Steam Box. I'm one of them, I confess - I think it'll be just the thing to ease me back into PC gaming, which is where my roots as a gamer lie, but from which I've become increasingly (if unwillingly) estranged. However, I think there are some tough questions and unhappy realities about the Steam Box - whatever final form it may take - that still need to be addressed, especially by the most outspoken proponents of the system.
The crux of the problem is this - Valve's console is already being lauded as a chariot of openness, a triumph for all those who love things that are Open as opposed to Closed, even if some of them aren't very good at defining what those terms actually mean. The box will presumably run either Windows or some Linux variant, and if you want to, you'll presumably be able to leave the Steam environment and pop back to the desktop of that OS and run whatever games or other software you want. (That's the assumption, anyway; we shall see.) That's certainly Open compared to, say, a PlayStation 4 or an iPad, which won't run anything Sony or Apple respectively don't want you to run.
However, there are other facets to this which look less convincing. For a start, while Steam is an amazing distribution platform that has massively boosted the appeal and reach of PC gaming, in many ways it's just as much a walled garden as any of the consoles. Indeed, when I wrote a column recently calling on Sony to lower the barrier for indie studios and small firms wishing to publish PSN games (something they seem intent on doing with PS4), many people pointed out that Steam can actually be an even tougher place to publish a game than PSN - and with the advent of a PS4 based on PC architecture and seemingly more open than ever to self-publishing, that contrast may become rather stark. It's already a stark contrast with the iOS App Store and Google Play, which both place only the smallest of barriers in front of creators who want to put their games in front of consumers.
As such, the question I'm asking myself is this; to an average consumer, who doesn't really want to dig around in another OS that sits behind the "console" interface, is Valve's proposed console really all that different to what Sony are suggesting? It seems to me that while Valve and Sony have started out on very different ideological and technological ground (and as such, are bringing along vocal supporters who originate in diametrically opposed viewpoints), they've converged significantly towards a midpoint. Sony, a company whose consoles have been totally closed ecosystems that were extremely difficult to publish on, has made huge strides towards welcoming self-publishing and liberalising its pricing and business models. Valve, a company with its roots in the open free-for-all of PC distribution, has gradually erected taller and taller walls around its garden and will, in the final analysis, build something that's rather more like a games console than most PC gaming fans are comfortable admitting.
That's fine, of course. If anything, it's a triumph for common sense. The companies that used to build totally closed systems are recognising the immense benefits of more open platforms and loosening the reins accordingly. Companies who were ideologically wedded to the concept of openness, meanwhile, are recognising that a certain degree of gatekeeping helps to ward off malware, fraud, viruses and a host of other damaging software. Perhaps the best thing about Steam, from a personal perspective, is that I trust implicitly that both it and the software it hosts will not damage my computer, which is a very major step for PC gaming but not one that could be taken without first stepping back a little bit from the concept of "openness".
"Valve isn't smashing consoles; it's building one. Open isn't obliterating Closed. All the major players are cherry-picking the best bits of both models"
What I'm trying to challenge here, I think, is the notion that whatever Valve does with the Steam Box is necessarily going to ride roughshod over next-gen console efforts. I simply don't think that's a given. The Steam Box will have advantages - a huge catalogue of games being the most obvious - but it's simply wrong to assume that it's going to be waving some extraordinary flag of democratisation and leading the charge against a closed console market. It's just going to be another walled garden among several walled gardens - the good news being that the walls this generation are going to be much, much lower than they've ever been before. It goes without saying, though, that Xbox and PlayStation are much stronger brands with the consumer market than Steam or Valve, so there's an uphill struggle to be fought in that regard.
From both a consumer and developer standpoint, though, this all looks rather positive. Assuming that the leaks about Xbox 3 are correct, we're talking about three consoles backed by serious, heavy-hitting companies, each based on PC architecture that's pretty straightforward to develop for, and in the case of Valve and Sony at least, each courting the notion of openness and self-publishing. That level of competition is very, very healthy indeed - so much for the notion that the console market is moribund and set for an early grave. Consoles are changing and adapting to new conditions; not extinction but evolution. It's great to see Valve being a part of that process and helping to knock down the utterly artificial barrier between PC and console gaming, which have always had far more commonalities than differences.
Developers, publishers and others involved in the industry simply need to be careful about how they conceptualise this shift. There is going to be a lot of fanboy nonsense written and spoken in the coming months about Valve turning up to "smash" the consoles, or about how "Open" is going to obliterate "Closed". Valve isn't smashing consoles; it's building one. Open isn't obliterating Closed; all the major players from both sides of that ill-defined fence are cherry-picking the best bits of both models to create an environment that makes sense for a modern, digital world. It's going to be a topsy-turvy few years - I still can't quite get over being told by several indie developers that they find it easier to publish on Sony's consoles than on the PC via Steam, and I expect to have plenty more such preconceptions and notions being overturned in years to come. The only real certainty about the ongoing digital transition is that it still holds a great many surprises and turnabouts.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-it-to-be-open
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March 10th, 2013, 22:14 Posted By: wraggster
 Microsoft has talked up its Kinect Fusion tool since 2011, but it took some time at TechFest this week to show off how the software could be useful in operating rooms. For those who need a refresher, Redmond's solution can create 3D models of whatever an attached Kinect sensor lays eyes on, but in this instance it was leveraged to create an augmented reality experience. Using an off-the-shelf Kinect camera duct-taped to a tablet, Microsoft researchers layered a model of a brain onto a mannequin's head, making its would-be mind viewable on the slate from different angles. Ballmer and Co. reckon that neurosurgeons could use the technique to visualize what's in a patient's noggin and plan how they'll guide their scalpel. Word that Fusion would come to the Kinect for Windows SDK first surfaced last year, but Microsoft now says it'll hit the dev kit's next release, which should arrive shortly. Head past the break to catch a video of the medical concept app in action.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/09/k...neurosurgeons/
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March 10th, 2013, 22:15 Posted By: wraggster
 Want to know how to make a pool table an attention-grabber on a showroom floor full of highly explosive video games? Try a couple of Kinect cameras, some projectors and a sound system. OpenPool's an open-source project that's looking to bring a little multimedia action to the world of billiards. The company had some reps on the floor of SXSW's Game Expo today, showing off the system, which, at the very least, is most probably unlike any pool game you've played.
The system uses two Kinect cameras to detect ball movement, which in turn directs the motion of the projectors -- not entirely unlike those floor shows in malls that seem to endlessly fascinate small children. The speakers play sound effects and music in sync with the movement as well, signaling noises when balls drop into the pockets. The company is really excited at the prospect of open-sourcing here, and told us you should probably be able to set up your own system at home for around $10,000, pool table included. For those who aren't particularly tech-savvy, the Japanese company is working on building full systems for offices and bars. Having Konami as a partner will certainly help it realize that dream. Check out a video of the table in action after the, you know, break.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/09/openpool/
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March 10th, 2013, 22:25 Posted By: wraggster
Jun Dong-soo isn't mincing his words. The Samsung Electronics head of memory chip business has a strong distaste for Microsoft's nascentWindows 8 OS, a viewpoint he made clear to reporters in Seoul, South Korea today. Addressing market research that indicates global PC shipments are on the decline, Dong-soo told reporters that the market segment has failed to see a boost from Windows 8 as it's "no better than the previous Windows Vista platform." Dong-soo even went on to link the poor attach rate for ultrabooks to Microsoft's "less competitive Windows platform." Unsurprisingly, this had led the Samsung exec to shift his division's focus from the fabrication of "conventional" memory chips to the more profitable and booming mobile chip segment. A move no doubt bolstered by the continued prominence of Samsung's Galaxy portfolio (e.g., Note II, GS III and upcoming GS IV). You have to hand it to Dong-soo, no one can accuse him of dealing in executive doublespeak.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/08/s...or-PC-decline/
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March 10th, 2013, 22:32 Posted By: wraggster
BioWare has released a new developer diary video for the Star Wars: The Old Republic 'Rise of the Hutt Cartel' DLC expansion.  Set for release in spring 2013, Rise of the Hutt Cartel will introduce new story content, a fresh planet called Makeb, and raise the level cap to 55.Rise of the Hutt Cartel will be priced at $19.99, but subscribers will be able to pick it up for $9.99. Those who pre-ordered the expansion before January 7 will receive five days of early access.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...tel-dlc-video/
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March 10th, 2013, 22:34 Posted By: wraggster
Mojang has made live a 'pre-release' version of its Minecraft 'Redstone' update for PC players.  The full version of the patch goes live next week Wednesday, March 13.The Redstone patch adds a list of new tools and creative functions, including new dispensers, a daylight sensor, a weighted pressure plate, improvements to inventory management and of course the block of Redstone.The pre-release can be downloaded via Mojang's site. Here's the full change log: - Added Redstone Comparator (used in Redstone logic)
- Added Hopper (collects items and moves them to containers)
- Added Dropper (similar to Dispensers, but always drops the item)
- Added Activator Rail (activates TNT Minecarts)
- Added Daylight Sensor
- Added Trapped Chest
- Added Weighed Pressure Plate
- Added Block of Redstone
- Added Nether Brick (item)
- Added Nether Quartz and ore
- Added Block of Quartz, with half blocks and chiseled variants
- New command: /scoreboard
- New command: /effect
- Containers and mobs can have custom names
- Inventory management has been changed, for example you can drag-place items over slots
- Texture packs now have separate images for each block and item, and can have animations
- Nether Quartz Ore now spawns in the Nether
- Smooth lighting now has three settings (none, minimal, maximum)
- More detailed death messages
- Some hostile mobs now are harder in Hard difficulty
- Many, many, bug fixes
- Removed Herobrine
Minecraft had sold over 20 million copies across all platforms, according to Mojang figures in January.The PC version had accounted for around 9 million of that figure, while Minecraft Pocket Edition had sold 7.3 million copies. The Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition had sold almost 4.5 million copies by December 2012.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ate-next-week/
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March 10th, 2013, 23:18 Posted By: wraggster
Xi3's Steam-focused PC "console," the Piston, is now available for pre-order, the company announced yesterday. The tiny, $999 box includes a 128 gig solid-state drive that can be upgraded to 512 gigs for an additional $750 (for real, SSDs aren't cheap, y'all), eight gigs of RAM and a 3.2 Ghz quad-core processor.
Any pre-orders placed between now and 11:59 p.m. Central on March 17, however, will have a smooth Benjamin shaved off the price. Pre-orders are expected to ship "in time for the 2013 Holiday Season," according to Xi3'sannouncement. Further information is expected to surface during the course of Austin's ongoing SXSW Interactive Festival.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/09/pr...f-during-sxsw/
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March 11th, 2013, 22:17 Posted By: wraggster
Despite initial reports of a smooth UK launch, SimCity players continue to face difficulties logging in and playing the game.
Following SimCity's launch last week, players are flocking to the game's forums and social media in order to vent their frustration over the game and their inability to play.
It summarises a trouble-laden launch for the title, which suffered multiple problems early last week as the game launched in the US. Servers struggled to cope with demand from players as a result of SimCity's required always-connected internet connection – a feature initially heralded as a unique form of multiplayer gaming, which allowed the game to track players through global resource sharing.
However, players who pre-ordered the title in the hopes of playing the game upon its midnight launch were left disappointed as they faced hour long queue times to access the game's single player mode.
In an attempt to avoid a repeat of the troubles across the Atlantic here in the UK, EA introduced an additional European game server, with the hopes of alleviating the pressure caused by excessive demand.
Whilst initial reports indicated a smooth UK launch, players were soon subjected to the same fate of US players, with wide scale reports of server crashes and the inability to access the game.
As issues continue to persist throughout the weekend, Maxis head Lucy Bradshaw took on the role of damage control, hosting a live chat with players via Twitter to address their concerns over the game.
The server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as we added more capacity,†she said in an official statement.
“But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we’re working fast to address.
“So what went wrong? The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.
“OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it. In the last 48 hours we increased server capacity by 120 per cent. It’s working – the number of people who have gotten in and built cities has improved dramatically. The number of disrupted experiences has dropped by roughly 80 per cent.â€
"So we’re close to fixed, but not quite there. I’m hoping to post another update this weekend to let everyone know that the launch issues are behind us.
Bradshaw also confirmed that EA would begin to compensate SimCity players with a free game following the issues.
"We’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game."
Meanwhile, a further update from Bradshaw this morning said: "players have been able to connect to their cities in the game for nearly eight million hours of gameplay time" whilst going on further to highlight that game crashes have been reduced by "92 per cent from day one".
Despite all of the issues, Bradshaw maintains that SimCity has received a positive reception, and has ultimately been a success.
"The good news is that SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets. The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game."
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...e-games/030475
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March 11th, 2013, 22:18 Posted By: wraggster
Kaspersky Lab has acknowledged that a bug within its latest internet security software has the potential to be exploited, which can result in a freeze of the system's operating system.
The bug, which is contained within Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 and other Kaspersky products that offer firewall functionality, is vulnerable to specifically designed IPv6 packets, believes security researcher Marc Heuse, posting the findings in a security advisory.
"A fragmented packet with multiple but one large extension header leads to a complete freeze of the operating system," said Heuse, "No log message or warning window is generated, nor is the system able to perform any task."
IPv6 is enabled by default within Windows Vista and newer Windows operating systems, in addition to both Mac OS and Linux, but its use across the wider web is currently limited, so the number of systems at risk is relatively low. However, systems continue to be vulnerable over local networks, as IPv6 addresses are assigned by default.
Acknowledging the bug, Kaspersky issued a statement, stating: "After receiving feedback from the researcher, Kaspersky Lab quickly fixed the error," the firm said.
"A private patch is currently available on demand and an auto patch will soon be released to fix the problem automatically on every computer protected by Kaspersky Internet Security 2013."
Despite acknowledging the bug, Heuse claims he originally warned the firm of the bug back in January, and again in February, but received no response.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-freeze/030469
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March 11th, 2013, 22:19 Posted By: wraggster
Samsung has taken a further shot at Microsoft over its Windows 8 operating system, whilst also taking aim at its Surface tablet, which has struggled since launching last year.
Talking to The Korea Times, Jun Dong-soo, president of Samsung's memory-chip division, had some harsh words for Microsoft's flagship operating system, belittling the firm's claims of innovation through the new OS.
"I think the Windows 8 system is no better than the previous Windows Vista platform," said Dong-soo.
It's interesting that the Samsung man chose to date back to Vista, rather than the current predecessor Windows 7 – further sticking in the boot with the claim that Microsoft's latest OS offers little innovation over a product that launched six years ago.
Following his assault on Windows 8, Dong-soo apparently wasn't quite finished, moving on to Microsoft's Surface tablet, which has experienced a less-than-ideal release since launching last year.
Picking on the device, Dong-soo said: "MS's rollout of its Windows Surface tablet is seeing lacklustre demand."
Whilst harsh, the comments aren't entirely unfounded given the issues that have plagued the device since its launch. The Surface RT has seem limited demand since its launch last year, whilst one Microsoft executive from New Zealand even took to Twitter to sell his own device.
Meanwhile, the launch of the Surface Pro generated stronger demand amongst consumers, but Microsoft has struggled to meet demand as the firm's online store has repeatedly sold out of the device as limited stock issues persist. However, such high consumer demand for the Surface Pro will a comforting sign for Microsoft, even if limited stock issues hinder its availability.
Samsung's relationship with Microsoft has become increasingly distant, with reports from this year's CeBit conference suggesting that the firm will axe its Windows RT devices in Europe as a result of poor demand.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ng-exec/030466
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March 11th, 2013, 23:50 Posted By: wraggster
Valve has revealed the latest weekly top ten selling products on Steam.
Bohemia Interactive titles claim three of the ten slots, with the alpha launch of Arma 3 propelling pre-orders for the game to the top spot. Arma II products also came in fifth and seventh.
Tomb Raider backed up last week’s first place finish with a runner-up claim this time around.
Pre-order purchases for Bioshock Infinite have the game sitting in fourth, ahead of its launch on March 26th.
- Arma 3 Alpha
- Tomb Raider
- Civilization V: Gold Edition
- Bioshock Infinite
- Arma II: Complete Collection
- Max Payne 3
- Arma II: Combined Operations
- Tropico 4 Collector’s Bundle
- Skyrim
- Age of Empires II HD
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/steam...ch-3-9/0112183
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March 12th, 2013, 00:10 Posted By: wraggster
 Heads up, Windows users. Tomorrow, Microsoft will release an update for Internet Explorer 10 that enables Flash content in both Windows 8 and Windows RT. As many of you are likely aware, the "full web" experience has been limited to the desktop browser on Windows 8 up until this point, which was an intentional move by Microsoft in order to improve performance, battery life and the touch experience. With the update, Internet Explorer 10 users for Windows 8 / RT will be able to access Flash content on all but a few sites that Microsoft has selectively blacklisted due to their negative impact on the user experience. Naturally, users of IE10 within the Windows 8 desktop environment will still be able to access all Flash-enabled content, regardless of whether the site is on the blackballed list. Now that you've waited this long, what's another day among friends?
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/11/f...dows-8-and-rt/
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March 12th, 2013, 00:29 Posted By: wraggster
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm officially goes on sale tomorrow, but players in some regions will get to start playing the expansion later tonight.  Ahead of the StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm release date of March 12, the studio has released an approximate guide to launch times for each region and in many time zones:Southeast Asia - Indochina Time (Bangkok): 8:01 p.m. March 11
- Philippine Time (Manila): 9:01 p.m. March 11
- Singapore Time: 9:01 p.m. March 11
- Australian Western Time (Perth): 9:01 p.m. March 11
- Australian Eastern Time (Sydney): 12:01 a.m. March 12
- New Zealand Standard Time: 2:01 a.m. March 12
Korea and Taiwan- China Standard Time (Taiwan): 1:01 a.m. March 12
- Korea Standard Time (Seoul): 2:01 a.m. March 12
EU- Moscow Standard Time: 3:01 a.m. March 12
- Eastern European Time (Athens): 2:01 a.m. March 12
- South African Standard Time: 1:01 a.m. March 12
- Central European Time (Paris): 12:01 a.m. March 12
- Greenwich Mean Time (London): 11:01 p.m. March 11
Americas- Brazil Standard Time (Sao Paulo): 4:01 a.m. March 12
- Eastern Daylight Saving Time: 3:01 a.m. March 12
- Central Daylight Saving Time: 2:01 a.m. March 12
- Mountain Daylight Saving Time: 1:01 a.m. March 12
- Pacific Daylight Saving Time: 12:01 a.m. March 12
- Hawaii Standard Time: 9:01 p.m. March 11
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...start-playing/
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March 12th, 2013, 01:19 Posted By: wraggster
Crystal Dynamics has patched the PC version of Tomb Raider.The update includes fixes for start-up issues on machines with Nvidia and Intel graphics hardware. Some small improvements have been made to the TressFX hair rendering, too. More on Lara's sometimes hilarious hair in Digital Foundry's recently published Tomb Raider Face-off.Meanwhile, the patch fixes a gameplay bug relating to the boat in the beach area and a bug that prevented some players from being able to use exclusive fullscreen.Also added is support for separate mouse and gamepad inversion for aiming and support for x-axis inversion.And let's not forget the "various other fixes".Steam will apply the patch automatically when you next start the game. Crystal Dynamics took the unusual step of making an un-patched version of the game available on Steam as a beta, but warned you'll only be able to play multiplayer with those who share your version.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...tressfx-issues
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March 12th, 2013, 23:11 Posted By: wraggster
Middleware maker's latest engine is the result of five years of development
Technology and tools maker Havok has launched a major new version of its widely used Havok Physics technology.
The release is the culmination of more than five years of internal R&D effort and represents a major leap in physics simulation for games, the company said.
It features significant technical innovations in performance, memory utilisation, usability and simulation quality.
The new version of Havok has been designed for the computing architectures that will define games for the next decade. It targets next generation home consoles, mobiles and PC while continuing to provide full support for current generation consoles.
“This release of Havok Physics marks the third major iteration of our physics technology since the company was founded 15 years ago. Although Havok Physics is widely recognised as the industry’s leading physics solution, our R&D team is constantly striving to innovate and push the technology further,†said Havok vice president of technology Andrew Bond.
“The result is a new engine core built around fully continuous simulation that enables maximum physical fidelity with unprecedented performance speeds. Beta versions of the technology have been in the hands of a number of leading developers for some time and we have seen dramatic performance gains with simulations running twice as fast or more, and using up to 10 times less memory.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...physics-engine
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March 12th, 2013, 23:13 Posted By: wraggster
Today Blizzard launched its first expansion to StarCraft 2, titled Heart of the Swarm. When initially developing StarCraft 2, Blizzard made the decision to split the game into three parts, each with a campaign as long as the original StarCraft. The initial release in 2010, Wings of Liberty, centered on the story of the Terrans. The newly-released Heart of the Swarm is focused on the Zerg. The final release, Legacy of the Void, will dedicate its campaign to the Protoss (and does not have a projected release timeframe yet). In addition to the new campaign, new units have been introduced for multiplayer and new maps have been added, which ought to shake things up in the competitive landscape. Blizzard has also made long-awaited improvements to the social system, including support for groups and clans
http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/0...swarm-released
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March 13th, 2013, 00:39 Posted By: wraggster
 We already know a lot about the Surface tablet line's birthing process. However, Microsoft has only really been comfortable with showing the finished product -- until today. The company's Panos Panay just gave The Verge a peek at some of the earliest prototypes and design decisions, some of which break from the officially rehearsed story. Microsoft had considered multiple PC form factors before settling on Surface, Panay says, and the tablets didn't always have that sharp-angled design: the firm tried curved backs before deciding that the flat surfaces were more reassuring in users' hands. The concept of a keyboard cover appeared relatively soon into the design process, however, and it was mostly a matter of evolution as the all-important peripheral slimmed down and fleshed out. As for the future? While we weren't expecting to hear very differently, Panay confirms that Microsoft is working on multiple future generations of Surface products. At least for now, this isn't a one-off experiment.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/12/m...ce-prototypes/
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March 13th, 2013, 00:41 Posted By: wraggster
When we got our hands on Acer's initial C7 Chromebook, our chief gripe was its frankly disappointing 4-hour battery life. We now know that Acer had its ear to the ground after launch. It's rolling out a new trim level, the C710-2055, that mends the short runtime and beyond. The new edition carries a 6-cell battery that should give it six hours of battery life -- still not as good as the 6.5 hours of Samsung's ARM-based Chromebook, but it's at least in the ballpark. Performance should also get a useful kick in the pants now that Acer has doubled the RAM to 4GB. While the upgrades take the newly available C7's price slightly out of impulse purchase range, to $280, it's now a more viable option for those who need more grunt than ARM can currently deliver without venturing into Chromebook Pixelterritory.
http://www.amazon.com/Acer-C710-2055...ords=C710-2055
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March 13th, 2013, 01:44 Posted By: wraggster
Blizzard lead systems designer Greg Street believes that it would be "a huge challenge" to bring MMOs with the scale of World of Warcraft to next-gen consoles.  While Activision's Destiny is believed to have MMO elements, Street says there are several unique challenges involved in translating an MMO like World of Warcraft for consoles."I would personally be very excited to see that," Street told NowGamer when asked whether MMOs can work on consoles. "It would be a huge challenge to take something like World of Warcraft with its massive hard drive footprint and its reliance on mouse and keyboard, I think if we were going to make a MMO for consoles then we might take it in a different direction."It can be done, it would just be a big challenge for a game like WoW."Activision Blizzard has already confirmed it will port Diablo III for both PS3 and PS4. Street notes that the Diablo II team needed to change "the very fundamentals" of that title in order to adapt it to consoles.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...next-gen-mmos/
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March 13th, 2013, 23:34 Posted By: wraggster
Piston maker and Valve disagree over their involvement with the microcomputer
Valve seems to have ruffled some feathers with its recent assertion that it is not connected in any way with Xi3’s Piston Steam Box.
A statement from Valve yesterday claimed that the company “began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of theirs".
However, a strongly-worded response from Xi3 has reiterated Valve’s commitment to the project.
"We reaffirm the fact that we received an investment from Valve Corporation and we did so with Valve's written permission," Xi3 founder, president and CEO Jason Sullivan stated.
"Second, we were asked to build a product specifically for Valve, and both companies showcased this product – the Piston Console – in their respective booths at CES 2013. Then, during a meeting with Valve at CES, Gabe Newell personally asked me that we not disclose additional information about our relationship with Valve. We have honoured that request and will continue to do so.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...over-Steam-Box
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March 13th, 2013, 23:50 Posted By: wraggster
AMD has just announced a new family of Elite A-Series APUs for mobile applications, based on the architecture codenamed 'Richland.' These new APUs build upon last year's 'Trinity' architecture, by improving graphics and compute performance, enhancing power efficiency through the implementation of a new 'Hybrid Boost' mode which leverages on-die thermal sensors, and offering AMD-optimized applications meant to improve the user experience. AMD is unveiling a new visual identity as well, with updated logos and clearer language, in a bid to enhance the brand. At the top of the product stack now is the AMD A10-5750M, a 35 Watt, 3.5GHz quad-core processor with integrated Radeon HD 8650G graphics, 4MB of L2 cache and a DDR3-1866 capable memory interface. The low-end is comprised of dual-cores with Radeon HD 8400G series GPUs and a DDR3-1600 memory interface."
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...ved-efficiency
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March 14th, 2013, 00:29 Posted By: wraggster
Despite the fact that SimCity is now working, the online games community continues to target it.
Accusations of all sorts are being flung online, ranging from broken AI pathfinding to critical services bugs, but perhaps the most significant is the claim that EA has lied about the game’s dependency on servers.
"An online interconnected world has been part of our design philosophy since day one," Maxis GM Lucy Bradshaw toldPolygon last week. "With the way that the game works, we offload a significant amount of the calculations to our servers so that the computations are off the local PCs and are moved into the cloud.
“It wouldn't be possible to make the game offline without a significant amount of engineering work by our team."
However, Kotaku has discovered that it is possible to play the game offline for a certain period (such as when a wi-fi connection is dropped) without any noticeable ill-effect when a connection is re-established – something that would appear impossible if Bradshaw’s claims were correct.
Adding further fuel to the fire and anonymous “Maxis insider†has supposedly toldRockPaperShotgun that the statements regarding server dependency are simply not true.
“The servers are not handling any of the computation done to simulate the city you are playing,†the source said. “They are still acting as servers, doing some amount of computation to route messages of various types between both players and cities. As well, they’re doing cloud storage of save games, interfacing with Origin, and all of that.
“But for the game itself? No, they’re not doing anything. I have no idea why they’re claiming otherwise. It’s possible that Bradshaw misunderstood or was misinformed, but otherwise I’m clueless.
“The game would regularly pass updates to the server, and then the server would stick those messages in a huge queue along with the messages from everyone else playing. The server pulls messages off the queue, farms them out to other servers to be processed and then those servers send you a package of updates back.
“The amount of time it could take for you to get a server update responding to something you’ve just done in the game could be as long as a few minutes. This is why they disabled Cheetah mode, by the way, to reduce by half the number of updates coming into the queue.â€
The truth is that at this stage it is almost impossible to distinguish fact from fiction. Forums are all too willing to accept at face value unsubstantiated claims on Reddit and other outlets as it serves to sustain the tidal wave of hate being directed at EA.
On the other hand, a growing body of does suggest that there are key issues with the title – many of which might have been forgiven had it not been for the server disaster that cursed the game from the word go.
Whatever you believe there is no disputing that EA still has a long way to go to appease its community.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/repor...ffline/0112342
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March 14th, 2013, 00:36 Posted By: wraggster
Digital gaming specialist Zattikka has signed a deal with Games Workshop to produce free-to-play isometric 3D games based on Warhammer 40,000’s Titans.
Zattikka is to develop a title “incorporating single, multi-player and social gaming modes, delivering both single and chain mission tactical experiences across a broad platform range, including PC/Mac and tabletsâ€.
It is being developed a Zattikka’s US game studios with an expected launch in 2014. A post-release DLC map is already being drawn up.
"We are delighted to be working with Games Workshop on such a prestigious and important gaming franchise,†Zattikka CEO Mark Opzoomer stated. “Warhammer 40,000 is one of the most globally recognisable science fantasy genres, appealing to a broad cross section of gamers.â€
Games Workshop’s head of licensing Jon Gillard added: "Titans have been around since the early days of Warhammer 40,000 when they first appeared in our ‘Adeptus Titanicus’ game, and have been a firm fan favourite ever since. Seeing these massive engines of destruction fight it out in an online game is going to be fantastic.â€
EA's free-to-play Warhammer title Wrath of Heroes is scheduled to shut down at the end of the month.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/zatti...0-deal/0112335
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March 14th, 2013, 00:46 Posted By: wraggster
City Interactive is a Polish developer best-known for Sniper: Ghost Warrior, which sold over 3 million units between the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. The company has been developing games for over ten years, and now has multiple studios as well as offices in several countries. CEO Marek Tyminski spoke withGamesIndustry International about the release of the company's latest game, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2.
The marketplace has changed in the last few years, with overall retail sales declining for consoles. City Interactive is bucking the trend, though. "Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is the biggest release ever for us," said Tyminski. The first-day release numbers for the sequel are over 1 million units, according to Tyminski. Given that the market overall has been declining for the last several years, that's a positive sign. The game is available for PC as well as Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PS Vita.
Tyminski sees that consoles will be the primary market for the game, but that "recently we see that more and more PC gamers are coming back. One of the reasons is you can do much more on the PC right now than you can do on the consoles. It will change when the next-generation of consoles will be introduced to the market. It's not only about our game, but a lot of other games."
Will Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 make its way to next-gen consoles? "We have different thoughts; we haven't made any decision on that," said Tyminski. "We definitely are working on games designed for the next-generation platforms. These games will be out in 2014. Lords of the Fallen, that's an action RPG, and Enemy Front, that's a first-person shooter, will be released for next-generation or purely for next generation."
Tyminski is very pleased with what Sony has announced about the PlayStation 4, particularly how using an underlying PC chip set makes it easier for development. "It's very exciting what they will have," said Tyminski. "It's great to have a platform [where] it will not be so complex to bring the content from another platform. It's great for all developers that it's much closer to other platforms."
The PC game market will become more important in the future, partly because next-gen consoles will share its underlying architecture. "PC is not just another platform; from our perspective it will be more and more important in terms of maximizing the game's potential for that platform," said Tyminski. "Once the PC platform is not so far from the console platform, you can more effectively optimize a game for PC. Some people have been doing that, and some have not."
"PC is not just another platform... it will be more and more important in terms of maximizing the game's potential for that platform"
Marek Tyminski
Tyminski is not discouraged by the overall decline in retail console sales of the last few years. "I think it will be tough as always when you have transition from current gen to next-gen," said Tyminski. "The industry is doing very well overall, and we see a lot of potential in that industry. It's a great place to be and I think it will be very exciting over the next year. I very much believe in the success of the next generation. I think it will bring a lot of interesting new game ideas."
At the PS4 introduction, Sony spent a lot of time talking about the social aspects of game play and how the new platform would encourage this. City Interactive plans to support this as well. "Of course we will have more of a social component in our games; this is important to us," noted Tyminski.
Next-gen consoles will be supporting new business models as well as new technology, including a greater role for free-to-play. "We are definitely looking into that; we don't have any free-to-play game right now, but that may change," Tyminski said. "Definitely free-to-play is an important part of the industry, but we are thinking of moving into that segment and sooner or later we will do that."
Tyminski sees a wider range of platforms ahead for City Interactive as the company addresses the broader game industry. Tablets are one of the key targets in the future, but that may require City to change some of its development focus. "We're still not there yet, but it's just a matter of time," noted Tyminski. "Our core is first-person shooters and action games, and we definitely want to expand to different segments."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...more-important
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March 14th, 2013, 01:36 Posted By: wraggster
A ridiculous Doom 2 mod turns all the grunting marines into vrooming automobiles, making the whole thing resemble a crude approximation of Destruction Derby or Twisted Metal.The mod, entitled Byngu, debuted on the Zandronum forums where user mr fiat posted his bizarre creation (thanks, Kotaku). Evidently it consists of four classes of cars, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. There are also several custom power-ups.Based on the clip below by Youtube user , the Byngu mod makes players look less like cars than marines larping as cars, as there's little momentum to the characters' movements (though you do sprint like the six-million dollar man), but it still looks fun and utterly chaotic regardless. Feel free to download the mod at the Zandronum forums.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-derby-sort-of
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March 14th, 2013, 23:30 Posted By: wraggster
Google has announced it is to shut down its Google Reader service on July 1st as the popularity of RSS continues to decline.
The eight-year-old service, which allows users subscribe and track their favourite news feeds from a variety of publications and outlets, proved popular amongst information junkies looking for an easy way to catch up on their latest news.
But as the popularity of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook has grown, users have increasingly turned to these sites to catch up on news, leaving Reader and other RSS feeds out in the cold.
"We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites," said Google in a statement, "While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined."
"So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months."
Fans of the service have criticised the move, with many – somewhat ironically – taking to social-networking sites to lament the closure. Google Reader quickly became the top trending topic on Twitter as fans highlighted the importance of the service.
It is widely believed that the service's inability ti generate income could be the reason for its demise. Google allegedly cut the Reader team back in 2011, whilst facing difficulties in selling ads against the service, given its format as a simple list of headlines.
Fans of Reader can pledge their support for the service by signing a petition to cancel the service's closure at KeepGoogleReader.com, or try out a number of alternative services, such as NetVibes, NewsBlur, Feedly, or even desktop applications such as FeedDemon and Reeder.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...retired/030502
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March 14th, 2013, 23:46 Posted By: wraggster
Minecraft Realms sets out to make it easier for kids to play safely
Mojang is planning to add a subscription service for its hit game Minecraft, geared towards making it safer for kids to play online.
Minecraft has gone from an underground indie success story to a generational icon; a 21st century take on Lego.
With over ten million copies sold on PC and nearly as many again on other platforms, Minecraft attracts a lot of children.
Since the game is immensely popular as a shared multiplayer worlds, there are an awful lot of kids running around unmonitored servers.
"Our custumers are parents who are tired of trying to act as server administrators on behalf of their kids," Mojang CEO Carl Manneh told Swedish site it24 (translated byGames Industry International).
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...iption-service
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March 15th, 2013, 00:18 Posted By: wraggster
Ever since SimCity launched, there has been a suspicion that the need for the game to always be connected to a server was mainly a form of DRM, not for social game features and multiplayer. Then a Maxis developer came forward to confirm the game doesn't actually need a server to function, suggesting the information coming out of EA wasn't the whole truth. Now EA and Maxis have some explaining to do as a modder has managed to get the game running offline indefinitely."The writer names a few small ways in which the game is actually improved by being offline, too.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/0...rk-requirement
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March 15th, 2013, 00:28 Posted By: wraggster
Last weekend's SimCity launch proved to be a trial by fire for EA – but I can only see this situation as one the publishing giant has won.
To recap: EA struggled to maintain server connections for swathes of SimCity players logging for launch.
The game requires an always-on web connection to support a variety of features: to support of both single-player and multiplayer, to run some of the game's computations server-side, to track data for metrics, and guarantee some form of DRM.
But when the game's servers can't connect, users can't play the game. And there was a lot of that last week, with forums, Twitter feeds and Facebook ablaze with frustration as the game went live.
SimCity is mostly running OK now, with more tweaks due. EA has admitted it underestimated the level of demand and server resource needed. It even offered disgruntled players a free game to keep them sweet.
EA is not alone in running foul of online connection problems disabling the launch of single player games.
Ubisoft has been regularly criticised for using over-zealous digital DRM for single players games, and Blizzard's Diablo III has hit similar issues.
But this has all happened so much that many commentators and pundits have suggested that problems like this will force publishers to rethink their online strategies. (And they insist campaigning against it will speed up that shift.)
Well, it won't.
"Every time a publisher has a widely-publicised
problem with something like DRM or 'always-on'
games, it's isn't another nail in the coffin for that
strategy - it's another nail in the coffin for whatever
that strategy is trying to kill off."
The only 'problem' that SimCity represents for EA is that it has been a steep learning curve.
Every time a publisher has a widely-publicised problem with something like DRM or 'always-on' games, it's isn't another nail in the coffin for that strategy - it's another nail in the coffin for whatever that strategy is trying to kill off. Because companies usually get smarter as they try and try again with things like this.
There's a mix of factors that make this a certainty that centre on web connections and ease of access.
Despite all the connection issues for SimCity, in the long-term web connections are getting better and better for consumers. It's this migration to better broadband and data access which, forgive me pointing out the obvious, is carrying us into the digital era.
And as for problems in the short-term? Well as publishers and developers encounter them, they simply find ways around it or fix them. Mobile and tablet games developers have made the biggest leaps on this. It will come to PC and console next: always-online games that are prepared to cope with a patchy signal or limited data bandwidth.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/opini...online/0112432
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March 15th, 2013, 00:58 Posted By: wraggster
Blizzard has released a new Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm patch.  According to the studio, update 2.0.6 fixes "a crash that could occasionally occur while playing the Heart of the Swarm campaign".We said in our Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm review : "Heart of the Swarm is an accomplished, if not ground-breaking, addition to the StarCraft series."Should you buy HotS? Well, it's fun, simple, and will last you about 10-12 hours. If you've never played Starcraft... try the free demo for Wings of Liberty instead. If you've already tried that and liked it, HotS got the hots for you."If you haven't already, check out the StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm opening cinematic.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ampaign-crash/
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March 15th, 2013, 01:03 Posted By: wraggster
LucasArts never officially announced Star Wars: First Assault, but it was scheduled to launch this spring as a multiplayer shooter, according to Kotaku.First Assault is still in production, but it's caught up in a company-wide freeze following Disney's purchase of LucasFilm in September, according to reports.
And it looks something like this, Kotaku says. The website has two pieces of footage that it says are from First Assault, both cut from a trailer used internally late last year; the gameplay video shows action mostly in first-person, though there are a few scenes of third-person fighting. It's all in-game footage, including a few bugs and incomplete art, and it is an "older" version of the game, Kotaku says.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/14/re...torms-the-web/
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March 15th, 2013, 22:11 Posted By: wraggster
Just 1.5m Surface tablets have been sold since the hardware’s launch in October, according to reports.
Bloomberg claims to have word from insiders who reckon that sales of the entry-level Surface RT version stand at just over a million units while sales of the Surface Pro, which was released last month, have hit 400,000 units.
Microsoft is said to have ordered around 3m Surface RTs from suppliers and forecast 2m sales of the RT SKU in the December quarter.
By contrast, sales of Apple’s iPad reached 22.9m in the December quarter. 2012’s worldwide tablet shipments stood at 128.3m with Apple claiming just over half of the market.
The Surface is Microsoft’s first ever own-built PC but is seemingly not currently on track to emulate the success Microsoft enjoyed with Xbox and Xbox 360.
It has also certainly not been helped by poor adoption of Windows 8, which has seen installation rates fall on desktop PCs. The Surface app store is still troubled by the lack of support from key partners, too. Facebook is yet to release a Surface app and Twitter only released its own Surface software this week.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/micro...report/0112529
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March 15th, 2013, 23:41 Posted By: wraggster
Companies promoting always-online need to understand the real world, says Rob Fahey
[h=3]EA[/h]
"Defective by design". That's how opponents of strong DRM characterise the object of their ire; software systems which are deliberately created to restrict, undermine and generally break the functionality of the content to which they parasitically cling. DRM, at this extreme, is a direct assault on the rights of the consumer - rights which had been enshrined both in law and in common practice in the pre-digital age, but which are now subject to a land-grab by the grim-faced lawyers of media companies the world over.
Games, for all our occasional harping and moaning on this subject, have been fairly tame and sensible in their implementation of DRM for the most part. It probably helps that many senior figures in the games business are pretty technologically competent compared to their counterparts in music and film; it's hard to imagine games companies continuing to pour money into a ludicrous, abortive, hugely expensive abomination like the film industry's bewilderingly beloved Ultraviolet system, simply because for all their flaws, games companies are quite good at understanding and accepting when a technology has simply failed.
In games, a handful of "tough" DRM concepts have flared up briefly before being extinguished - either the technology didn't actually work, rendering it pointless, or the restrictions it imposed on legitimate consumers were so onerous that DRM actually ended up damaging the commercial potential of the game and its sequels. Again, credit where it's due - even those in the games industry who are most ideologically inclined towards DRM based solutions to piracy have generally been quick to accept facts ("this isn't working" or "this is screwing over our paying customers") and back down in such cases. Indeed, no matter what your view may be on microtransactions, paymium and F2P - and I maintain that we're going to have some very very tough years in the core gaming space as companies and designers repeatedly fail to apply microtransaction models sensibly for core consumers - it's still a great big gold star in gaming's copybook that the industry has actually gone out and thought about what a post-digital business model might look like, rather than just going crying to governments about how big nasty technology has come along and stolen everyone's lunch money with its "innovation" and its "progress".
"In games, a handful of "tough" DRM concepts have flared up briefly before being extinguished"
There is, however, one daft approach which the biggest and most generally sensible of games creators don't seem to be quite able to shake off. Creating always-online games - shoving a client-server model borrowed from MMORPGs and other multiplayer titles into the heart of your singleplayer games - seems to hold a siren call for developers, in spite of high-profile and humiliating failures. When Blizzard did it with Diablo 3, it was met with resistance and anger from players that unquestionably coloured the critical and commercial reaction to the game - now seen as a distinct low point for a company which could do almost no wrong for the previous 15 years or so. Now EA has stepped up to implement similar ideas in the new Sim City, in the process fomenting a backlash that has almost entirely eclipsed years of superb build-up and excitement around the resurrection of this beloved franchise.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ldnt-be-either
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March 17th, 2013, 00:08 Posted By: wraggster
Kinect for Windows is getting a big SDK update on March 18th to version 1.7 -- Redmond's calling it "our most significant update to the SDK since we released the first version" -- which includes the long awaited 3D object scanning application Kinect Fusion. Microsoft took to Engadget's Expand stage today to unveil the features of the SDK update, which included live demos of both Kinect Fusion and Interactions; Fusion creates live 3D models of both people and objects, while Interactions adds a whole variety of recognizable gestures to the Kinect for Windows SDK ("push-to-press buttons, grip-to-pan capabilities, and support for smart ways to accommodate multiple users and two-person interactions," says Microsoft). Microsoft' also adding code samples to its Kinect for Windows development site (CodePlex), making this the first such code from Microsoft available in an open-source channel. We'll have demo videos of the new Kinect for Windows SDK features for you as soon as we can.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/16/k...indows-sdk-17/
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March 17th, 2013, 00:16 Posted By: wraggster
SimiCity developer Maxis is 'focusing' in improving Sim path-finding, according to SimCity lead designer Stone Librande.  Nonsensical traffic jams have been the topic of much debate (and videos) online, and Maxis has clearly been listening in."Now that we're getting close to resolving our server issues, we're putting a lot of attention on improving the simulation based on the community's feedback," said Librande in a lengthy blog post."Our main focus right now is updating the pathing system that the Agents use to get to their Sinks. Running a successful city means keeping the traffic flowing and we are actively working to make this system better," he explained."We understand that when cars always take the shortest route between point A and point B there will be unavoidable (and illogical) traffic jams, so we are retuning these values to make the traffic flow more realistically."To dig a little deeper our roads will have a weighting system based on 25%, 50% and 75% capacity. As a road hits those marks it will become less and less appealing for other cars, increasing the likelihood of them taking an alternate path if one exists."He goes on, "We are working on additional fixes with the pathing of our Agents and these changes will streamline the way that the simulation unfolds in your city. For instance, emergency vehicles will not get blocked in their garages and will move into empty lanes to get around traffic jams. We're also working on preventing service vehicles from clumping up (for instance, only one fire truck will respond to a fire instead of two) and improving the way that Public Transportation operates in the city. We are currently testing a patch internally and hope to have it out to you soon."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...coming-update/
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March 17th, 2013, 00:34 Posted By: wraggster
History can't be stopped and neither can developer Firaxis' Civilization 5expansion packs, with "Brave New World" arriving this summer for Mac and PC. This is the second "massive expansion" for the strategy game, following last year's excellent "Gods & Kings," which added religion and espionage to the mix. Brave New World's big features are trade networks and ideology.
"Right at the beginning there are trade routes," Firaxis producer Dennis Shirk told us. "Caravans go back and forth in trade routes. Barbarians can attack them spawning more barbarians. Other players can attack to disrupt trade during wartime." Players will also have a button to easily display an overlay of trade routes in the game.
Another major addition to gameplay is that when the industrial and modern eras roll around, ideology comes into play. "We just wanted to have that culture game be as engaging as the military victory," said Shirk. "Before it was just a really passive game style."
Ideology will be used to enhance the experience of the cultural victory. Per usual, there will be more wonders and scenarios. We'll learn more about this latest expansion next week at PAX East.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/15/ci...ave-new-world/
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March 18th, 2013, 20:30 Posted By: wraggster
Lenovo has announced the new ThinkPad, revealing a thinner and lighter Ultrabook.
It seems listening to customer feedback has helped shape the new design of the ThinkPad T431s.
“We obsess over the pursuit of perfection – as evidenced by more than 20 years of Lenovo ThinkPad design and engineering accolades. However, perfection cannot be achieved without a key ingredient: customer insight,†said Dilip Bhatia, vice president and general manager, ThinkPad Business Unit. “The ThinkPad T431s is the first device featuring Lenovo’s new design, which represents a comprehensive examination of user experience and input.â€
The Lenovo ThinkPad T431s is powered by an Intel 3rd gen Core processor with Turbo Boost, it has up to 12GB of memory and additional HDD and SSD storage options. With a 1600x900 14-inch HD+ anti-glare display, the T431s includes Intel vPro for easy device management, supports ThinkPad docking, and provides enhanced security.
The ThinkPad T431s is the thinnest and lightest T series ever made and weighs just 3.6 pounds (1.63kg) and measures just 0.82-inches (20.6-mm) thin.
The T431s will be available from April and has a starting price of approximately $949.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...m-april/030528
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March 18th, 2013, 20:34 Posted By: wraggster
City-building title garners one million in sales as server troubles begin to dissipate
EA has increased server capacity for its beleaguered SimCity title by 400% in an effort to battle connection issues that have plagued the game.
During launch week, SimCity servers struggled to meet demand, making the game unplayable for waves of consumers who had bought the always-online title.
Servers have slowly begun to resume normal operations, but an increase of server capacity by 400 per cent shows the challenges the early launch faced and raises questions over how prepared EA was for the game’s release.
As well as increasing server capacity by 400 per cent, EA has revealed that more than one million copies of SimCity have been sold. Of these, 44 per cent of sales were made through EA’s digital distribution platform Origin.
The game also helped the publisher break the record for peak concurrent users on Origin, with more than 1.3 million players logging in.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...apacity-by-400
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March 18th, 2013, 20:40 Posted By: wraggster
 SimCity developer Maxis has offered players a free game download through Origin to apologise for the difficulties the game experienced at launch.Every player that has activated their copy of SimCity will be notified by email of the details, but Maxis has confirmed on its blog that eight games will be available to choose from. They are Battlefield 3, Bejeweled 3, Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Need For Speed Most Wanted, Plants vs. Zombies and SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/simc...hrough-origin/
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March 18th, 2013, 21:40 Posted By: wraggster
Creative Assembly’s community manager Craig Paycock has paid tribute to a cancer victim who will now forever be remembered as a star of upcoming game Total War: Rome 2.
Last summer a 24-year-old James visited the studio as part of a Special Day initiative organised by charity Willow Foundation, which arranges for memorable experiences for the seriously ill.
As part of the trip James was scanned and his likeness used for a model of a Roman soldier that will be used in the retail release.
Not long after his day James passed away from liver cancer.
"What really struck me was how my colleagues reacted to James coming in," Laycock toldEurogamer. "I was inundated with emails offering help with James' day. The tour organised itself, as the guys around me scrambled to show James what's going into making Rome 2.
"James was remarkable on the day. His enthusiasm knew no bounds. He asked passionate questions and offered clear and concise suggestions on features for the game.
"When I recently learned that James had died, it was devastating. Even though I had only spent a few hours in his company, it was absolutely devastating, because he was able to show us all here in the studio how passionate he was for our games.
"And although he won't get the chance to see Rome 2 released he will live on in some small way in our game – and every time I see him I'll be reminded of what a great guy he was.â€
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/24-ye...-war-2/0112600
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March 18th, 2013, 21:54 Posted By: wraggster
The Alpha version of Arma 3 has nabbed the top spot in consecutive weeks on Steam's latest top sellers chart.
Bohemia's upcoming realistic FPS retains its crown a week after its number one debut, while pre-orders for Bioshock Infinte have the game climbing two spots to the runner-up position.
Tomb Raider continues its solid run on the list, slipping a single spot from last week's second place finish. Far Cry 3 reintroduces itself to the list, coming in at fourth thanks to a sizable discount promotion from the past week.
A cross promotion between Left 4 Dead 2 and Resident Evil 6 has both games gracing the list at fifth and ninth, respectively.
- Arma 3 Alpha
- Bioshock Infinite
- Tomb Raider
- Far Cry 3
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Tropico 4 Collector’s Bundle
- Anno 2070 Complete Pack
- Age of Empires II HD
- Resident Evil 6
- Arma II: Complete Collection and Skyrim
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/steam...-10-16/0112579
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March 18th, 2013, 21:56 Posted By: wraggster
If hardware manufacturers want to keep their firmware crippling a secret, perhaps they shouldn’t mess with Linux users? We figure if you’re using Linux you’re quite a bit more likely than the average Windows user to crack something open and see what’s hidden inside. And so we get to the story of how [Gnif] figured out that the NVIDIA GTX690 can be hacked to perform like the Quadro K5000. The thing is, the latter costs nearly $800 more than the former!
[Gnif] wanted the card for gaming and to support multiple monitors. It has no problem driving up to three screens under Windows. But the Linux drivers only allow this on the professional counterpart to the GTX690, the Quadro K5000. It turns out that the card responds to a device ID as assigned by a series of analog values. These can be tweaked by swapping, yanking, or adding resistors in just the right places. As with that Agilent multimeter unlock of his which we saw a few days ago, he somehow managed to figure out the secret sauce that unlocks the power hidden in this card.
http://hackaday.com/2013/03/18/hack-...graphics-card/
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March 18th, 2013, 21:58 Posted By: wraggster
Electronic Arts has announced that SimCity has sold more than 1.1 million copies within its two week launch window. The number reflects sell through to consumers and around 54 percent of users purchased a digital version of the title. 44 percent of sales came through EA's Origin online store.
"SimCity had a great weekend with sales strong across both North America and Europe, adding to overwhelming demand at launch that has us tracking well beyond expectations for the game," said EA chief operating officer Peter Moore. "SimCity is one of the storied brands in gaming, and Maxis delivered a game re-envisioned and engineered for the online age."
These strong sales persisted despite the game's rough reception due to connectivity issues. EA did not detail what percentage of sales came prior to the reports of gamers being shut out of SimCity due to the always-online requirements, so there's no visibility on if negative reports led to a sales drop-off. EA says it has increased server capacity by more than 400 percent to deal with demand, but a number of the game's community features remain offline.
EA is also boasting 1.3 million peak concurrent users on Origin, thanks in part to users playing SimCity.
For users that suffered through SimCity's connectivity issues, EA has offered one free Origin game in recompense. Interested users must purchase and register their copy of SimCity prior to March 25 and claim their free game by March 30. Offered games include standard editions of Battlefield 3, Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Bejeweled 3, Plants vs. Zombies, and the deluxe edition of SimCity 4. More information on the offer can be found here.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...irst-two-weeks
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March 19th, 2013, 00:36 Posted By: wraggster
If you're a Windows 7 user and you've been dragging your heels when it comes to thatService Pack 1 upgrade, then prepare to get an extra dose of encouragement from Microsoft. Starting tomorrow, the company will begin deploying SP1 via Windows Update to all neglected PCs, and just so you're aware, the update won't require your consent. The push will happen a phased rollout over the next few weeks, and as for the consequence of not upgrading, Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7 RTM as of April 9th. Naturally, PCs that are managed by system admins can be shielded from the deployment, but for everyone else, it seems that you'd best prepare for the inevitable.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/18/windows-7-sp1/
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March 19th, 2013, 01:10 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has poured cold water on reports that suggested Halo 3 will be released on PC.Microsoft issued a statement to Eurogamer on the matter after the latest AMD beta driverswere found to include an entry for Halo 3.The entry sparked speculation that the Bungie shooter was in line to launch on PC having released on Xbox 360 in September 2007.Alas, it appears this is not the case."We currently do not have plans to release any Halo titles on Steam, nor do we currently have plans to release a PC version of Halo 3," a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer.This isn't the first time we've whispers of Halo launching on PC. Last month a Steam database found listings for Halo 2 and Halo 3. Halo: Combat Evolved received a PC port in 2003 courtesy of Borderlands studio Gearbox Software.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...sion-of-halo-3
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March 19th, 2013, 15:34 Posted By: wraggster
via http://www.emucr.com/
OpenTTD v1.3.0-RC3 is released. OpenTTD is an open source simulation game based upon the popular Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe", written by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features.
Features
OpenTTD is modelled after the original Transport Tycoon game by Chris Sawyer and enhances the game experience dramatically. Many features were inspired by TTDPatch while others are original.
Significant enhancements from the original game include:
bigger maps (up to 64 times in size)
stable multiplayer mode for up to 255 players in 15 companies, or as spectators
dedicated server mode and an in-game console for administration
IPv6 and IPv4 support for all communication of the client and server
in game downloading of AIs, NewGRFs, scenarios and heightmaps
new pathfinding algorithms that makes vehicles go where you want them to
autorail/-road build tool, improved terraforming
canals, shiplifts, aqueducts
larger, non-uniform stations and the ability to join them together
mammoth and multi-headed trains
different configurable models for acceleration of vehicles
clone, autoreplace and autoupdate vehicles
the possibility to build on slopes and coasts
advanced/conditional orders, share and copy orders
longer and higher bridges including several new designs, plus fully flexible tracks/roads under bridges
reworked airport system with many more airports/heliports (e.g. international and metropolitan)
presignals, semaphores, path based signalling
support for TTDPatch NewGRF features offering many options for graphics and behaviour configuration/modification
drive-through road stops for articulated road vehicles and trams
multiple trees on one tile
bribe the town authority
many configuration settings to tune the game to your liking
save games using zlib compression for smaller sizes, while not interrupting gameplay
significant internationalisation support. OpenTTD has already been translated into over 50 languages
dynamically created town names in 18 languages, plus NewGRF support for additional languages
freely distributable graphics, sounds and music
framework for custom (user) written AIs
zooming further out in the normal view and zooming out in the small map
Lots of effort has been put into making OpenTTD easy to use. These include:
convert rail tool (to electrified rail, monorail, and maglev)
drag&drop support for almost all tools (demolition, road/rail building/removing, stations, scenario editor, etc)
sorting of most lists based on various criteria (vehicle, station, town, industries, etc.)
mouse wheel support (scroll menus, zoom in/out)
autoscroll when the mouse is near the edge of the screen/window
sell whole train by dragging it to the dynamite trashcan
cost estimation with the 'shift' key
advanced options configuration window, change settings from within the game
Graphical/interface features:
screenshots can be in BMP, PNG or PCX format (select in game options menu)
more currencies (including Euro introduction in 2002)
extra viewports to view more parts of the game world at the same time
resolution and refresh rate selection for fullscreen mode
colourful newspaper after a certain date
colour coded vehicle profits
game speed increase (through fast forward button or by pressing the TAB key)
snappy and sticky windows that always stay on top and neatly align themselves to other windows
more hotkeys for even less mouse-clicking
support for 32 bit graphics
support for right-to-left languages
support for other (sized) fonts where the user interface scales based on the font and translation
OpenTTD v1.3.0-RC3 Changelog:
- Fix: Limit aircraft property 0D to 19, since the conversion result to km-ish/h needs to fit into a byte [FS#5492] (r25099)
- Fix: Clicking the statusbar crashed, when news were pending but no news were shown yet [FS#5486] (r25093)
- Fix: Make editbox character filters also apply to pasted content from clipboard (r25090, r25089)
- Fix: Catch exception anonymously, if the exception content is not of interest [FS#5500] (r25081)
http://www.openttd.org/download-testing
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March 19th, 2013, 23:45 Posted By: wraggster
Researchers have uncovered a bug within EA's Origin service, which could leave over 40 million people vulnerable to malicious attacks.
The attack, which was demonstrated to the firm, takes just seconds to compete and allows attackers to remotely execute malicious code on a user's computer.
By manipulating the uniform resource identifiers, which Origin users to automatically start games on a user's system, the bug is able to exploit flaws in the service and use the platform as a method of attack.
It is believed that attackers will be able to install malicious software on Origin users' systems via the exploit.
"The Origin platform allows malicious users to exploit local vulnerabilities or features by abusing the Origin URI handling mechanism," said ReVuln researchers Donato Ferrante and Luigi Auriemma after demonstrating the vulnerability.
"In other words, an attacker can craft a malicious Internet link to execute malicious code remotely on [a] victim's system, which has Origin installed."
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-hijack/030534
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March 20th, 2013, 00:00 Posted By: wraggster
Google Chrome running Chrome OS was hailed as being a survivor in the Pwnium/Pwn2own event that hacked IE, Firefox and Chrome browsers on Windows. Apple's Safari running on Mac OS X was not hacked and neither (apparently) was Chrome on Chrome OS. Google disclosed [Monday] morning that Chrome on Chrome OS had in fact been exploited — albeit, unreliably. The same researcher that took Google's money last year for exploiting Chrome, known publicly only as 'PinkiePie' was awarded $40,000 for exploiting Chrome/Chrome OS via a Linux kernel bug, config file error and a video parsing flaw."Asks Freshly Exhumed: "So, was it really Google Chrome, or was Linux to blame?"
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/03...at-pwnium-2013
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March 20th, 2013, 00:07 Posted By: wraggster
 Valve and Capcom are forming an undead alliance as they plot to merge the worlds of Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead.The crossover is specific to PC, but will see Left 4 Dead 2′s four protagonists invade Resident Evil 6′s Mercenaries No Mercy mode through a free download on April 5 – the PC version of Resi 6 is due for release March 22.The game’s enemy roster will also be bolstered with L4D’s Witch and Tank infected variants. Left 4 Dead 2, meanwhile, will add three as-yet unspecified Resi enemies through the Steam Workshop sometime later this spring.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/resi...sover-planned/
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March 20th, 2013, 01:50 Posted By: wraggster
We're here at NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, and company CEOJen Hsun-Huang has just revealed the next step in its GPU roadmap. Called Volta, it's scheduled to arrive after Maxwell, and will advance GPU technology with a ridiculous amount of memory bandwidth. Volta GPUs will have access to up to 1TB per second of bandwidth by stacking the DRAM on top of the GPU itself, with a silica substrate between them. Then, by cutting a hole through the silicon and connecting each layer it's possible to move, according to Huang "all of the data from a full Blu-Ray disc through the chip in 1/50th of a second." We aren't exactly sure what that means for graphics, but being able to process data that quickly is bound to be a boon for gamers... whenever Volta actually arrives, of course.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/19/n...map-volta-gpu/
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March 20th, 2013, 01:59 Posted By: wraggster
EA has launched an 'Origin Player Appreciation Sale' offering up to 70 per cent off over 200 games sold via its PC/Mac digital delivery service.  Starting to day, the sale runs for one week, concluding on March 26 at 10:00am PT (5pm UK), and spans download games for PC and Mac, add-on content and packaged titles PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and Wii U.Games like Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3 are half-price, at $29.99 each, as is Battlefield 3 Premium (which comes with all five map packs) at $24.99. Mass Effect 3 is just $9.99, and the entire The Walking Dead series (five episodes) is $10.00.EA says the sale is a way "to say 'thank you' to its 40 million registered users worldwide".Check out the sale for yourself on EA's Origin website.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ver-200-games/
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March 20th, 2013, 23:40 Posted By: wraggster
Don Gordon to drive cloud gaming push for tablets and Smart TVs
Cloud gaming outfit OnLive has appointed the founder of Smart TV technology firm Bulldog United as its new senior VP of engineering.
Don Gordon will be responsible helping driving the integration of OnLive gaming into tablets, Smart TVs and other devices.
He will also be tasked with improving OnLive Desktop which aims to bring the desktop experience to tablets, as well as bringing the firm’s upcoming ‘enterprise solutions’ to market.
“I am excited to have Don back on my team as we break new ground in our gaming, computing, and enterprise cloud solutions,†said OnLive Chairman Gary Lauder.
“Since I first encountered Don while chairman at ActiveVideo Networks, I have been impressed with his natural leadership and ability to drive change.â€
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...of-engineering
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March 20th, 2013, 23:57 Posted By: wraggster
The new chairman of streaming games firm OnLive has criticised the press for what he says was misrepresentation of OnLive’s “restructuring†last year.
Things appeared to have gone very wrong for OnLive back in August 2012, with significant job losses and a change of ownership as well as the loss of former boss and founder Steve Perlman.
Tales of woe swiftly followed, with claims that OnLive had just 1,600 concurrent users.
The events of August were later described by then new CEO Charles Jablonski as a “transitionâ€, stating: “I’d never minimise both the emotions and the pain when you go through a transition like that.â€
However, in a new blog post by chairman and majority owner Gary Lauder – his first since taking the job – plays down the events of last year.
“When the restructuring of OnLive happened in August, many misunderstood it to mean that the service and company were shutting down,†he wrote. “Neither occurred, nor did we go bankrupt. We should have communicated better.
“As Mark Twain wrote, ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’. Same with us. Our service continued without interruption both in the USA and overseas, and we have about 90 employees.â€
Lauder is also optimistic about the year ahead, adding:
“It has been seven months since I jumped in to save OnLive from a financing mishap, and I have had the opposite of buyer’s remorse: buyer’s elation! 2013 is shaping up to be a great year at OnLive, and I want to share some of our good news.
“We have already delivered some significant milestones for the OnLive Game Service, in particular, being incorporated into our first third party device, the VIZIO Co-Star, and into Google TVs, starting with the impressive LG G3 Series – with more to come.
“We continue to bring new game publishers and games into the mix, and released Witcher 2:Assassins of Kings Enhanced release from CD Projekt RED on Thursday, February 28th with a special promotion, which includes a free a digital download copy of the game for PCs with purchase of a Full PlayPass. We are busy exploring other new ways to serve our users’ and publishers’ interests capitalizing on our unique abilities.
“We’re expecting great things in 2013, and with Don’s vision and expertise to fuel us, you can trust that it’s only the start.â€
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/onliv...ctured/0112768
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March 21st, 2013, 02:01 Posted By: wraggster
 While it won't supercharge Crysis or other games like its upcoming Cloud Gaming device may, NVIDIA's GRID Visual Computing Appliance is now up for grabs to designers, animators and visual production types for $24,900 plus a $2,400 yearly software license fee. That sum will merely get you the starter model consisting of 8 GPUs, 16 threads of CPU and 192GB of RAM to service up to 8 users, while the 16 GPU model -- which doubles all that up -- is hitting the dreaded "contact us" price point. For reasonable-sized studios with multiple designers or artists, though, it'd allow humdrum machines to link up via a network and still crunch complex models -- making the price rather beside the point for us individual users. For more info, hit the PR after the jump.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/20/n...now-available/
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March 21st, 2013, 02:17 Posted By: wraggster
Valve has launched a new 'Early Access' section of Steam which allows gamers to play early versions of games that are still in development.  The new section, launched today, lets you pay to gain access to early or 'alpha' versions of games. The service has gone live with 12 games available, most of which offer gamers access to the current alpha version with continuous updates, and the rights to download the final game when its finished.Many of these offers also present themselves as discounts on what will eventually be the final price of the game when its launched, rewarding players who make the pledge early."The goal of Early Access is to provide gamers with the chance to 'go behind the scenes' and experience the development cycle firsthand and, more importantly, have a chance to interact with the developers by providing them feedback while the title is still being created," explains Valve."To support the interaction between Early Access players and developers, Steam offers easy and automatic updating of games, letting developers iterate quickly to respond directly to bug reports and feedback from customers."Here are the first games to support Early Access play:
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March 21st, 2013, 02:32 Posted By: wraggster
EA has released SimCity update 1.7, which is designed to improve traffic congestion issues.  Nonsensical traffic jams have been the topic of much debate since the game's release, and developer Maxis recently acknowledged that improving path finding was a priority.Update 1.7 - Traffic Improvements: Tuned traffic congestion and fixed some intersection traffic issues.
- Traffic improvements: Emergency Vehicles will drive in empty lanes to get around traffic at intersections.
- Traffic improvements: Emergency and Delivery vehicles get priority over regular traffic when leaving garage.
- All units and buildings can now be demolished using the bulldoze tool.
- Performance improvements for low spec systems.
- New Server: Asia 2 will be released Tuesday afternoon (PDT)!
Despite a turbulent launch, EA said this week that SimCity sales have cleared 1.1 million copies in two weeks.It also revealed a choice of games it's offering SimCity players for free as compensation for the server issues which ruined the game for many customers post-launch.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ic-congestion/
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March 21st, 2013, 15:35 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has offered up more information on its upcoming update to Windows 8, which currently is known only as "Blue".
Within a video obtained by MSFTKitchen, Eric Rudder, chief technical strategy officer at Microsoft discusses Blue, and all but confirms it as the codename for the firm's upcoming update to its Windows 8 operating system.
Rudder discusses Blue as "extending touch in even more dramatic fashion," which would indicate that the update is set to introduce a host of new features to Windows 8, whilst further developing the OS' touch capabilities.
Fresh Paint, the firm's design application offered on the Windows 8 platform, is also demonstrated in the leaked video, as the app's new features to be included with the Blue update are showcased.
Whilst there has yet to be any official word on the Blue platform, it is believed that Microsoft is switching to a yearly update cycle with its software, which would see Blue release towards the end of 2013.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-leaked/030557
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March 21st, 2013, 15:37 Posted By: wraggster
Companies can now place bulk orders for both the RT and Pro models of Microsoft's flagship Surface tablet device.
Despite initial stock shortages of the 128GB model of the Surface, it would appear that Microsoft has overcome the issues as it offers the device to firm's looking for a company wide rollout.
However, whilst offering the bulk buying scheme, Microsoft maintains a warning that some customers may still face delays.
"Lead times for delivery and order requirements may vary depending on inventory," reads a company statement.
Microsoft has ado advised that existing enterprise customers will be given preference, over new business partners, who will have to endure a longer wait.
"If you don't currently have a volume licensing agreement with Microsoft, there may be additional processing time to setup account and credit terms."
Whilst the enterprise orders site is now live, only the Surface RT is available at present, as UK buyers continue to wait for the Surface Pro's release within the country. In addition to the tablets, customers are also able to buy associated Microsoft accessories through the new service.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...rprises/030551
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March 21st, 2013, 23:26 Posted By: wraggster
More than a million fans also tune in to Major League Gaming eSports tournament
Real-time strategy title StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has rushed to more than 1.1 million sales in just two days.
The number of copies for the expansion sold includes sales made through both retail and digital channels.
As well as reaching the impressive sales milestone during its opening couple of days, Blizzard also announced that more than 1.1 million viewers tuned in to the developer’s day of launch events and community celebrations, with the number of concurrent viewers peaking at 125,000.
More than 1.1 million viewers also watched the Heart of the Swarm Major League Gaming Winter Championship tournament that took place in Texas last weekend, with peak concurrent viewership hitting 157,000.
“We want to thank the global StarCraft community for the incredible passion and support they've shown for Heart of the Swarm,†said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...es-in-two-days
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March 21st, 2013, 23:41 Posted By: wraggster
The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age is now available to play for free in browsers.
The Facebook game is developed by Kabam and draws heavily on the license recently popularised by the first of Peter Jackson’s films.
It’s the second game to be released via the collaboration between Warner and Kabam following last year’s iOS and Android title The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth.
“We’re eager to bring The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age to the millions of Middle-earth fans who engage online,†Warner Interactive’s senior VP of digital games Greg Ballard stated. “The Facebook and browser-based portals are key locations where The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film fans can regularly engage with Middle-earth in a shared interactive environment.â€
Facebook’s director of games Sean Ryan added: "The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age from Kabam and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is a great example of the type of high quality games being built on Faceboo.
“Kabam’s first strategy game Kingdoms of Camelot launched on Facebook in 2009 and became a major franchise, and we’re excited to see Kabam build their latest game on Facebook. As the Facebook games ecosystem grows, we look forward to seeing more highly engaging experiences from Kabam."
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/warne...r-game/0112848
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March 22nd, 2013, 02:28 Posted By: wraggster
Over two million people have signed up to Star Wars: The Old Republic since the game went free-to-play.  That's according to the game's executive producer, Jeff Hickman, who says "player feedback, in general, has been very positive about the new things in the game".The Old Republic switched from a subscription-only MMO to a free-to-play model in November 2012, allowing players to play through the stories of all eight classes in the game and develop characters to level 50 without paying a subscription fee."Last spring, there was some uncertainty surrounding Star Wars: The Old Republic as we were starting to lose subscribers and players were growing frustrated," said Hickman in a statement today. "In fairness, many of the complaints and worries were justified. In an effort to try to address everything, we just weren't sufficiently focused on improving the core experience," he added, before noting improvements to several key areas of the game since then.Hickman went on to confirm that "several new features" are in the works for the game, including an update this summer that will add "a new customization feature, which will allow you to change your character's hair style, eye color, body type, or even species (including the upcoming Cathar!) using Cartel Coins".Also, set for release in spring 2013, the new 'Rise of the Hutt Cartel' DLC expansion will introduce new story content, a fresh planet called Makeb, and raise the level cap to 55.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-free-to-play/
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March 22nd, 2013, 02:45 Posted By: wraggster
Fans have done what Sega won't - clever-clogs modders have released a version of Sonic Unleashed for PC.The free download works as a total conversion mod for Sonic Generations. You'll need a Steam copy of that game for it to work, and the 2.34GB download file from ModDB.The new version includes support for unlimited resolutions, new higher-quality textures and 60 FPS gameplay.Eight modern sonic stages have been "re-adapted" from Sonic Unleashed with a number of improvements. There are "no mandatory RPG elements, no medal collection, no Werehog", the creators have promised.Modders have even gone through and fixed a number of bugs and glitches in the game.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-pc-conversion
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March 22nd, 2013, 02:46 Posted By: wraggster
Skyrim patch 1.9 has been released in its final form on Steam. "For console players out there, we're hoping to release 1.9 later this month," wrote Bethesda on its blog.Since the patch went into beta testing on Steam, there's been clarification (on Reddit) about how the new Legendary skills effectively do away with Skyrim's level cap (81).If you have a skill at 100, you can opt to have it become Legendary by using the Book of Waking Dreams. This resets the skill to 15 and reimburses you all invested perk points in that tree. A little Imperial dragon symbol is displayed underneath the name of the skill tree.You're now free to level that skill again to 100, and in doing so can gain another character level. With each new character level - level 82 and beyond - you gain a new perk point and ability point.Theoretically you can rinse-repeat this process an indefinite amount of times, gaining as many new perk and ability points as you can bear to grind out.Each time you opt for that skill to become Legendary, another Imperial dragon symbol is displayed. These symbols, I think, do nothing but serve as a memory marker for how many times you've Legendary-d a skill.Skyrim patch 1.9 adds a new Legendary difficulty to make this worth your while.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...rall-level-cap
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March 22nd, 2013, 23:16 Posted By: wraggster
European retailers continue to celebrate strong tablet sales as the must-have devices continue to outsell both laptop and desktop PCs.
Newly released figures from consultancy firm Context have revealed that during the first two months of 2013, tablet sales had increased by 350 per cent on the same period of the previous year.
“While in the past we saw many tablets, such as the Kindle, sold exclusively via online channels, vendors such as Amazon are now taking advantage of the traditional bricks and mortar stores to complement their direct route to market by selling through supermarkets and stores, enabling consumers to touch, play with and buy their devicesâ€, said Adam Simon, global managing director of retail research at Context.
"At the same time, click and collect purchases have helped retailers such as Argos post good trading results, the latter particularly helped by the increase in tablet sales," Simon continued.
Distribution continues to be dominated by Android-based tablets, with the devices accounting for 60 per cent of all tablets sold, whilst Windows 8 devices accounted for just 2 per cent as Microsoft maintains its focus on enterprise and business users.
The figures also highlighted that across Western Europe, Samsung tablets proved to be the most popular in both January and February, with the firm's seven-inch and ten-inch editions of the Galaxy Tab topping sales along with Samsung's Nexus 7 device.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...tailers/030577
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March 22nd, 2013, 23:18 Posted By: wraggster
As Microsoft discontinues sales of Office 2010, retailers have moved to raise the price of multi-license suite.
Despite the introduction of Microsoft 2013, buyers have maintained interest in the suite's predecessor as it grants users the right to install the software on multiple PCs – a feature that was withdrawn from this year's edition of the suite.
Launching in January, all three retail SKUs of Office 2013 provide just a single license.
Whilst initially limiting these products to a single installation, Microsoft has since provided users with the option to transfer this license on a 90-day basis following a backlash from users who condemned the restrictions.
The implementation of the single license within Office 2013 is a move widely believed to be a result of Microsoft wanting to enhance the appeal of its Office 365 software, which is offered on a subscription basis.
Whilst Microsoft has discontinued Office 2010, retailers have taken note by raising their prices for the software.
Online giant Amazon increased its initial list price for the full package of Office 2010 by $20 immediately following the news, offering the software at $170, an increase of 13 per cent.
Despite Microsoft discontinuing the sale of Office 2010 through its own online store, retailers are still moving their existing stock of the product, and are hoping to benefit from the suite's continued popularity amongst buyers.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-prices/030574
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March 22nd, 2013, 23:23 Posted By: wraggster
Collectible card game to be released cross-platform on Windows, Mac and iPad
Development giant Blizzard is taking its first foray into the free-to-play market with its new game, collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
The new game is being designed as a cross-platform title for Windows, Mac and iPad.
Users will be tasked with building card decks based on one of nine character classes from Warcraft to do battle in turn-based gameplay.
Although no release date has yet to be set, Blizzard said the title would be entering beta testing "very soon".
Develop revealed in February last year that Blizzard’s next major title would be embracing the ever-popular free-to-play business model, with the latest announcement now confirming the report.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-WarCraft-game
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March 24th, 2013, 20:22 Posted By: wraggster
Want to get a first-hand look at Microsoft's updated OS? You might be able to download the unreleased Windows Blue operating system on your own machine. Leaked build 9364 hit file sharing sites earlier today -- according to Neowin, the 32-bit edition is available for download as a 2.63GB ISO, and likely hit the web from a Microsoft partner in France. Notable adjustments include larger and smaller Live Tiles, enabling a bit more Start screen customization, along with an updated side-by-side app view, which boosts multitasking efficiency by displaying two applications with matching width. Other additions include a Play option under the Devices panel, a screenshot button on the Share sidebar, and Internet Explorer 11, which comes packaged with the new OS. Windows Blue build 9364 appears to be an unauthorized leak, but even if you have any reservations about installing it on your own machine, you'll surely be able to check out plenty of eye candy from other users over the hours and days to come. In the meantime, hit up the source links for a few more screenshots.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/24/windows-blue-leak/
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March 24th, 2013, 20:24 Posted By: wraggster
Double Fine has unveiled the final form of its Kickstarter adventure game, which it confirmed at PAX East today will be called Broken Age.  Formerly known as simply 'Double Fine Adventure', Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure game which follows the stories of a young boy and girl leading parallel lives."The girl has been chosen by her village to be sacrificed to a terrible monster--but she decides to fight back," the game's websiteexplains."Meanwhile, a boy on a spaceship is living a solitary life under the care of a motherly computer, but he wants to break free to lead adventures and do good in the world. Adventures ensue."Double Fine Adventure was one of the first titles to seek crowd funding via Kickstarter to cover its development fees.Tim Schafer's studio set a goal of $400,000 for the project, which it reached in mere hours. The Double Fine Adventure kickstarter eventually cleared $3.3 million.New backers can still submit funds via Double Fine's website, with $30 gaining access to the final game via Steam, a video documentary series, PC and Mac beta access and more.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...as-broken-age/
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March 25th, 2013, 20:40 Posted By: wraggster
Nvidia has set its sights on the free-to-play market by unveiling its latest hardware bundles, which offer PC gamers in-game currency for some of the market’s biggest cost-free titles.
The GPU manufacturer announced the new bundles as part of its ‘Gear up, Game on’ promotion, which incentivises its high-end graphics cards with the latest games titles.
Within the new deals, Nvidia is offering up to £100 worth of in-game credit for some of the biggest free-to-play titles, including World of Tanks, Planetside 2 and Hawken to gamers picking up a GPU from the firm’s GTX range. Buyers of the GTX 650 range can expect to receive £50 of currency to use within the selected titles, whilst gamers opting for the GTX660 range and above will receive the full £100.
Matt Wright, consumer sales manager for Nvidia, cites the move into the free-to-play market as a way of meeting the needs of today’s PC gaming community: “We are seeing more and more high profile games launch with a free-to-play business model, causing an explosion on the PC with over 250 million gamers now playing over 14 billion hours of F2P titles on the PC each year. It’s big business and a big market that we want to show continuous support to,†said Wright.
“According to a Steam Hardware Survey, over 36 million gamers don’t meet the recommended specs, meaning they’re missing out on the very best experience in their favourite games. So it makes sense to encourage our etail partners to tap into this community.â€
Nvidia began its ‘Gear up, Game on’ promotion last year as a way of boosting its hardware sales, whilst providing gamers with the required kit to play the newest games releases.
Previously, the firm had offered a selection of the year’s blockbuster titles such as Borderlands 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Assassins Creed III as part of the programme. But with free-to-play titles taking over as the most played games amongst PC gamers, Nvidia has adjusted the promotion in order to better reflect the community.
Similarly, the channel’s retailers and resellers have celebrated the bundle offering as boosting the sales of its hardware products.
Duncan Rutherford, product manager at Dabs.com, said: “Initiatives such as bundles is a growing trend in the gaming market and it works because we provide added value to our customers, which is always a positive when you’re working in a competitive and crowded market.
“Bundling games with hardware gives us the chance to also promote items around the graphics cards, such as monitors and peripherals, and sell it as a solution to get a great overall gaming experience for the customer.â€
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-gamers/030560
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March 25th, 2013, 20:41 Posted By: wraggster
A build of Microsoft's unreleased update to Windows 8, currently known only as Blue, has leaked online.
Build 9364 of Windows Blue has reportedly landed on multiple fire-sharing sites, which detail the download as the 32-bit edition of Blue, sized at 2.63GB.
It is believed that the file has surfaced online via a Microsoft partner based in France.
Blue initially caused a stir on its initial reveal, with many believing the software to be Microsoft's latest operating system – a potential successor to Windows 8.
However, further leaks have indicated that Blue is the first major update to Windows 8, rather than a new OS in itself.
Notable inclusions within the update include both larger and smaller live tiles, allowing for greater Start screen personalisation and side-by-side app viewing, which enhances multitasking efficiency within the OS. Also bundled within the leaked build is Internet Explorer 11.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-online/030600
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March 25th, 2013, 20:49 Posted By: wraggster
J.S. Joust and BIT.TRIP devs also sign up develop for tiny interactive gaming tech
Interactive gaming outfit Sifteo has awarded two indie developres with $25,000 each as part of the experimental gameplay project.
The EGP, run by a number of indies including World of Goo creator Kyle Gabler, which holds monthly competitions based on a specific theme, recently teamed up with Sifteo to hold a community-based development contest.
Entrants were tasked with making a title for Sifteo Cubes, tiny interactive cubes that respond to gestures and communicate information wirelessly to each other.
The two finalists to receive a publishing deal and $25,000 each in funding to finish their games were One Life Remains with ‘best in multiplayer’ bicycle racer Paraplui and ‘best in single player’ titles Squaresville by Frank Force.
"We don't have the monopoly on creativity here at Sifteo, so we're reaching out to top developers all over the world,†said Sifteo co-founder Jeevan Kalanithi.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...rimental-games
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March 25th, 2013, 20:58 Posted By: wraggster
With the new leaked videos and screenshots of Windows Blue released, IE 11 is also included. IE 10 just came out weeks ago for Windows 7 users and Microsoft is more determined than ever to prevent IE from becoming irrelevant as Firefox and Chrome scream past it by also including a faster release schedule. A few beta testers reported that IE 11 changed its user agent string from MSIE to IE with the 'like gecko' command included. Microsoft may be doing this to stop web developers stop feeding broken IE 6-8 code and refusing to serve HTML 5/CSS 3 whenever it detects MSIE in its user agent string. Unfortunately this will break many business apps that are tied to ancient and specific version of IE. Will this cause more hours of work for web developers? Or does IE10+ really act like Chrome or Firefox and this will finally end the hell of custom CSS tricks?
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/03...r-agent-string
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March 25th, 2013, 22:44 Posted By: wraggster
Lord of the Rings Online studio Turbine is developing a free-to-play arena battler based on the DC Comics licence.
It’s called Infinite Crisis and it will be published by Warner Bros. It’s due out at some time in 2013 on PC.
It’ll feature lots of recognisable DC faces and will be set in the “DC multiverseâ€, which effectively means that players can expect the likes of Batman, Catwoman, Green Lantern and The Flash (all of whom have been confirmed for the game) to undergo some creative re-imagining.
“We are thrilled to bring Infinite Crisis, a truly competitive experience featuring the DC Comics lore and characters, to the MOBA genre,†Warner Interactive president Martin Tremblay stated.
“Turbine is a pioneer in online gaming and combined with the amazing world of DC Comics, they are executing on a game concept that expands the MOBA genre.â€
Turbine’s executive producer Jeffrey Steefel added: “The Turbine team is very excited to reveal Infinite Crisis to the world and extend the MOBA genre with new features.
“We are utilizing years of experience in the online game space to deliver innovations to the MOBA genre with a game that features fast-paced action, a major story arc, destructible environments, catastrophic events and a deep roster of iconic DC Comics characters.â€
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/warne...crisis/0113022
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March 25th, 2013, 22:50 Posted By: wraggster
Valve has revealed the latest top sellers chart for the week ending on March 23rd, with Bioshock Infinite snatching the top spot away from the Arma 3 Alpha.
The two switch first place and runner-up positions ahead of Infinite’s launch later this week.
The rest is a bit messy, with Valve going promo crazy this past week. Past regulars like Assassin’s Creed III, Dark Souls, and Saints Row: The Third all found a place on the list, thanks to solid discounts.
Tomb Raider endured, despite all the sales garnering most of the attention, sliding four spots from last week to the seventh position.
- Bioshock Infinite
- Arma 3 Alpha
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Far Cry 3
- Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
- Saints Row: The Third – The Full Package
- Tomb Raider
- Skyrim and Skyrim: Dragonborn
- Kerbal Space Program and Left 4 Dead 2
- Age of Empires 2 and You Need A Budget 4
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/steam...-17-23/0113008
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March 26th, 2013, 00:32 Posted By: wraggster
 It can be scary mustering developer support for a brand-new app platform -- just ask BlackBerry. Microsoft may feel slightly relaxed, then, if MetroStore Scanner's unofficial estimates are on the ball. It sees over 50,380 active Windows Store apps as of this writing, which isn't bad for a shop that reportedly had less than half this amount back in November. Whether or not you consider it progress compared to the rest of the market is another matter: the tally is a big leap over the estimated 14,000 apps in theMac App Store, but it won't make either Apple or Google break out in a cold sweat when compared against the six-digit app counts of their mobile app stores. Microsoft currently declines to confirm the numbers, although the company tells us that the app count may vary from country to country. For now, it's safe to presume that a fair number of app writers are onside with Microsoft's tile- and touch-driven vision of the future.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/w...es-50000-apps/
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March 26th, 2013, 00:32 Posted By: wraggster
For those that can swing a Chromebook Pixel in the first place, the LTE model may be the wisest choice when it promises always-on data for a constantly connected machine. Anyone who can justify the $1,449 outlay will be happy to know that Google has quietly narrowed down the launch window: early orders should now ship by April 8th. Shoppers will still have to be Americans willing to latch on to Verizon's network for LTE, but the date leaves a mere two weeks before the release of what's unquestionably the highest-end (and priciest) Chrome OS system yet. Any takers?
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/c...-by-april-8th/
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March 26th, 2013, 00:35 Posted By: wraggster
Just as last week was winding down, we heard a credible rumor that Microsoft was about to update some of the native apps found in Windows 8 / Windows RT. Turns out, that report was on the money: the company unveiled some changes today to Mail, Calendar and People, with a particular focus on speed improvements. None of these updates will be available to download until tonight or tomorrow, says a Microsoft rep, so don't all of you go making a beeline for the Windows Store at once now. If you're itching for a preview, though, we've got a summary of the new features after the break, along with a few extra screenshots.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/m...-8-windows-rt/
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March 26th, 2013, 00:36 Posted By: wraggster
 We probably don't need to tell you that one of the first things we did upon finding out that Windows Blue had leaked was download that sucker. (Sorry Microsoft, we can't help ourselves.) Well, after some finagling we got it up and running in a virtual machine and gave spin. Even at this early stage its pretty obvious that Blue is going to be a relatively minor, but welcome upgrade Windows 8. And, while we encountered plenty of rough edges, we'd say they're more than explained away by the fact that this is an early build and VirtualBox can introduce its own set of problems. But, if you're just looking for a sneak peak at what Microsoft has in store for Windows in 2013, head on after break and check out the gallery of screenshots below.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/w...reenshot-tour/
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March 26th, 2013, 00:41 Posted By: wraggster
Daylight is a PC first-person horror game powered by Unreal Engine 4, and below is the first ever trailer of it in action.  Daylight is the latest game from Zombie Studio, who has over the years done several military shooters including Spec Ops, Delta Force and Blacklight, and more recently Blacklight: Retribution, a free-to-play sci-fi shooter for PC released in 2012.Zombie Studio describes Daylight as "a procedurally generated psychological thriller"."Waking up in an abandoned hospital with only your cell phone for illumination, you explore the institution's dark criminal past as you attempt to escape," it explains."Daylight introduces gamers to a procedurally generated world that replicates the horrifying nature of Daylight over and over again, but creates a different environment for each new game."Each time the player begins a new game, they experience a new world with new content and encounters; from the layout of the building and the things they seek to the events they encounter, it is never the same experience twice," it adds.Expected for release in 2013, Zombie Studio says the game is "coming soon to Steam".
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...orror-trailer/
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March 26th, 2013, 02:15 Posted By: wraggster
Eve Online's 19th free expansion, Odyssey, will be released on 4th June.Broadly, it's all about exploration. Scanning has been rethought allowing you to uncover the secrets of the Eve Online universe - if you're brave and patient enough to go find them.
User-interfaces have been improved, as have graphics.CCP mentioned redistributing resources across its Eve Online universe as well, which should shake up conventions and potentially establish new hot-spots for a good dust up.Some ship-types have been redesigned and there are new "tools of war" issued by the four factions. Star bases have been improved, too.CCP's info for Odyssey is sparse at the moment, with the promise of more to come. Plus, there's to be "a few surprises"."Odyssey is an expression of our love for space and exploration," said Eve senior producer Andie Nordgren. "It brings changes that will wake the wanderlust and taste for adventure in both new and veteran pilots."Eve Online turns 10 years old in May. Remarkably, not only has the game survived that long, it's survived as a subscription MMO for that long.It's been growing, too: CCP announced that Eve Online had passed the 500,000 subscriber mark recently.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...eased-4th-june
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March 26th, 2013, 02:24 Posted By: wraggster
 Soften the financial impact of Dead Space 3, SimCity, or Need for Speed Most Wanted, while you soften your skin, with an entirely random Amazon deal. Right now, through some totally nonsensical co-marketing, you get the $20 discount off of one of those three EA games if you buy $15 worth of "Dove Men + Care" products, including deodorant, soap, or shampoo.
The limited edition of SimCity is currently already discounted to $40, so this deal takes it down to an effective $20, provided you also need some unnecessarily gender-specific hygiene products.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...d_i=B007FTE2VW
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March 26th, 2013, 23:28 Posted By: wraggster
NVIDIA has announced its latest budget graphics card, the GTX 650 Ti BOOST, which offers up to a 40 per cent performance increase over the card's predecessor.
As the year's biggest PC release continue to launch, NVIDIA has moved to provide gamers with an affordable card, designed to boost performance within these games.
The GTX 650 Ti BOOST GPU is based on NVIDIA Kepler architecture and packs 768 CUDA cores, whilst available in both 1GB and 2GB memory configurations.
Equipped with a wider 192-bit memory interface, NVIDIA says the GPU offers up to 60 per cent more memory bandwidth than its predecessor – the GTX 560 Ti – whilst providing 40 per cent increased performance overall.
The new GPU also incorporates NVIDIA's GPU Boost technology, which reacts in real-time to the needs of a game and dynamically adjusts performance along with SLI capability.
NVIDIA says the 2GB edition of the GTX 650 Ti BOOST is available now for £144 from the firm's add-in card suppliers, such as ASUS, EVGA, Gainward, KFA2, Gigabyte, Inno 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, Point of View and Zotac. Meanwhile, the 1GB version of the GPU will be available early April for £124.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...i-boost/030609
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March 26th, 2013, 23:53 Posted By: wraggster
 Crytek has revealed a CryEngine 3 licensee showcase video at GDC 2013.The video features footage from Big Red Button, Battlefield Of Honor, Datex, Enodo, Cabal 2, Golfzon, Forged By Chaos (pictured), Real Time Immersive, Sniper 2, Godslayer, Star Citizen, Lichdom (which is pleasingly reminiscent of Hexen), Archeage and Warhorse.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/gdc-...nsee-showcase/
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March 27th, 2013, 11:39 Posted By: wraggster
The OpenELEC Linux distro came out of beta with its official 3.0.0 version this week, and according to its makers nearly every part has been upgraded since the 2.0 release last year. This release of the media center package is based on XBMC 12.1 and as such includes its assortment of updates, as well as specific improvements for the Raspberry Pi, MC001 devices, Apple TV and AMD hardware. If you're on 2.0 you'll need to manually update to the new version, hit the source link for a full changelog and instructions on how to get it all working.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/27/openelec-3-0/
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March 27th, 2013, 11:40 Posted By: wraggster
This year's Battlefield series entry -- Battlefield 4 -- is headed to PCs this fall. The game wasn't given other platforms, but logic dictates it'll arrive on the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 successor. Apparently, since only Sony's next-gen console is a known quantity and Microsoft's staying mum, EA isn't sharing other platforms yet (but hey, it's probably PlayStation 4 and the next Xbox). The game's being built on the latest iteration of DICE's Frostbite engine, though no other details were given about the engine just yet.
Like previous Battlefield entries, EA-owned Swedish game studio DICE is at the helm, and Battlefield 4 remains planted in current times (unlike the pseudo-future of Call of Duty's latest entry, Black Ops 2). A beta for the game will go live some time this fall, and folks who bought last year's Medal of Honor: Warfighter are automatically part of said beta. We'll have more info as EA offers it up, but color us not surprised ifBattlefield 4 makes a reprise appearance at Microsoft's still undated Xbox 360 successor unveiling.
Update: EA also released a 17-minute gameplay demo of the game's prologue section, played on a PC. It features a squad of four soldiers on the run from Russian spec-ops militants in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. You'll find it just beyond the break.
Update 2: Per a listing on EA's digital store, Battlefield 4 is headed to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in addition to the PC. PlayStation 4 is curiously missing, as is mention of Microsoft's next-gen game console.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/27/b...d-4-fall-2013/
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March 27th, 2013, 11:49 Posted By: wraggster
Square Enix has released a new Tomb Raider patch for the PC version of the game.  Featuring multiple fixes and tweaks, build 1.0.730.0 should be applied by Steamautomatically when you next start the game. If it isn't, you'll need to restart the Steam client. - Upgraded the save slots from three to 99
- Introduced "Last Campsite Save", which automatically saves your progress up to the last campsite you have visited
- Added stereoscopic 3D reticle
- Fixed issues with the discovery of the Unworthy campsite.
- Fixed a problem that occurred when traveling back to the Sacred Hall Basecamp after that story has been completed
- Fixed a playthrough stopper in Chasm Bridge
- Fixed a playthrough stopper that could occur when loading a saved game created in the Coastal Forest after upgrading the axe but before opening the gate
- The active selection in the main menu no longer changes due to the rotation of the menu itself
- Fixed Mouse and Aim Sensitivity slider settings getting rounded to coarser values on save
- Fixed a crash in multiplayer that could occur while migrating hosts
- Added functionality to activate and deactivate DLC multiplayer maps during matchmaking. Maps can also be manually activated and deactivated in the new 'Match Making' menu in the 'Options' menu.
- (DX11) Fixed a few self-shadowing artifacts in the beach
- (DX11) Various performance optimizations
- (DX11) Improved sunlight shadow quality
- (DX11) Lens flares now render correctly in stereoscopic 3D
- (DX11) Improved exclusive fullscreen <-> windowed transitions
- (DX11) Fixed occasional crash on startup related to stereoscopic detection
Square Enix also said: "While we expect this patch to be an improvement for everyone, if you do have trouble with this patch and prefer to stay on the old version we made a Beta available on Steam, Build722.3, that can be used to switch back to the previous version. Please note however that you can only play multiplayer with people that share your version."We will keep checking the feedback and are still planning further patches beyond this one to address various issues that have come out of consumer feedback since the release of the game."Earlier this week, Square Enix described Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs and Tomb Raider sales as weaker than expected.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...atch-released/
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March 27th, 2013, 13:12 Posted By: wraggster
A PC version of WayForward's DuckTales Remastered looks likelier than it did last weekend. The remake of the NES game was announced at PAX East for XBLA, PSN, and Wii U. Now, according to Capcom Senior VP Christian Svensson, a PC confirmation is in the works.
When queried about a PC version in the Ask Capcom forum, Svensson said, "Working on it. When I can confirm it, I will do so but for now, hang tight." To us, that sounds very positive.
And lo, did a chorus of PC owners . We'll let you know if/when that confirmation comes in. Either way, DuckTales Remastered springs onto various screens this summer.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/27/ca...stered-for-pc/
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March 27th, 2013, 13:17 Posted By: wraggster
 Plants vs. Zombies Adventures is not the announced sequel to Popcap's lawn-defense game – that's still in process. Instead, it's an "extra awesome PvZ experience fans can enjoy on Facebook," the developer tweeted.
The Facebook page for the unreleased game says Adventures includes "endless waves of new characters, strategies, territories, and community challenges." Interested parties will have the chance to find out exactly how Plants vs. Zombies has been adapted for the Facebook ecosystem soon: "liking" the page offers a chance to get in on a beta.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/pl...g-on-facebook/
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March 27th, 2013, 23:18 Posted By: wraggster
AMD has lifted the lid on its upcoming GPU products, including its latest high-end Radeon HD 7990 card.
Making its debut in front of the public at this year's Games Developers Conference, AMD remained tight-lipped over the card as Matt Skynner, AMD's general manager of graphics business, showcased the card to those in attendance.
“This is the first public showing,†said Skynner, “We’re not saying much about it other than it’s two series-7900 GPUs on a single card, and it’s whisper quiet.â€
The Radeon HD 7990 is set to go head-to-head with NVIDIA and its own recently unveiled high-end card: the GTX Titan. Both GPUs will compete for the title of world's fastest card once they hit retail later this year.
AMD also took the opportunity to show-off its Radeon Sky cards, which will feature at the heart of data centres powering cloud gaming services, much like OnLive.
David Cummings, the firm's general manager of professional graphics, said: “Data and services are moving the cloud, and so is gaming."
“What do gamers want from the cloud? They want the experience to be easy to install, easy to use, and available from on any device at any location.â€
Cummings also highlighted the firm's desire to focus on the Cloud with its new products.
“AMD intends to support the whole cloud: The home cloud and the public cloud," said Cummings, “Cloud gaming requires HD gaming at 30 fps, outstanding compression, optimal density – meaning the best performance per watt and the most users per GPU – minimal latency, and enterprise-grade hardware.â€
Spec-wise, the Radeon Sky 900 will boast two GPUs, each with 3GB of DDR5 memory, whilst the Radeon Sky 700 and 500 will feature 6GB and 4GB of GDDR5 memory respectively.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...990-gpu/030612
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March 27th, 2013, 23:39 Posted By: wraggster
Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima has shown off gameplay footage of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which he also revealed the earlier footage of Ground Zeroes was part of.The Phantom Pain will be an open world game, but the new footage is taken from the opening tutorial section which Kojima describes as being, “more on railsâ€.Opening in a hospital, it transpires that Snake has been in a coma for nine years, and as a result has lost the use of his legs temporarily.A fellow patient, who’s voice actor sound suspiciously like Kiefer Sutherland, helps you to escape the hospital as an unknown enemy attacks it. Snake’s movement is laboured, and the Fox Engine pulls off some wonderfully naturalistic animation. Characters’ faces, too, look excellent.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/koji...-phantom-pain/
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March 28th, 2013, 23:32 Posted By: wraggster
Whilst little is known about Windows Blue right now, a report from Asia indicates that Microsoft will merge Windows 8 RT with the next-generation operating system.
The report from Digitimes fails to outline how exactly Microsoft is allegedly planning to "merge" the two OS' together, or what such a move would mean.
However, the new site does cite Asian-based suppliers over the reason behind such a merge.
"Although the PC supply chain had pushed the Windows on ARM (WoA) platform aggressively, the Windows RT's name, which has misled most consumers into believing that the operating system is able to support all existing x86 Windows programs...the lack of apps, as well as compatibility issues have all significantly damaged demand," says the Digitimes report.
As Microsoft continues to remain tight-lipped over Windows Blue, the reports could simply be little more than miscommunication between Microsoft and its suppliers.
Currently, Microsoft's only words on Blue remain vague, as the firm states it is working "on plans to advance our devices and services, a set of plans referred to internally as Blue."
It seems highly unlikely that the firm would simply merge its Windows RT OS into what is widely viewed as the first major update to the operating system.
Windows Blue is expected to be unveiled at the Microsoft Build Developer Conference, which takes place from June 26th - 28th.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...en-blue/030619
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March 28th, 2013, 23:41 Posted By: wraggster
Latest entry into franchise to blend real-time strategy and MOBA gameplay
The Creative Assembly is taking its flagship IP Total War free-to-play with the reveal of a new spin-off.
Called Total War: Arena, the game will be the studio's first free-to-play venture, and will focus solely on online multiplayer.
As well as the usual real-time strategy gameplay the series is famous for, the new game will also mix in elements of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) gameplay, hence its 'Arena' title.
Further details on the title are currently limited, although more is expected in the coming days.
Interested players can sign up for the forthcoming closed beta on the title's official web page.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...S-free-to-play
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March 28th, 2013, 23:42 Posted By: wraggster
Minecraft, Diablo III and Guild Wars 2 spur on growth for PC software market
The global PC gaming software market ballooned to $20bn last year, according to a new report by industry research group DFC Intelligence.
The report (via Shacknews) was commissioned by the PC Gaming Alliance, which also announced the results. The organization includes both AMD and Intel.
The $20bn figure marks an eight per cent increase over 2011, with the report citing games such as Diablo III, Minecraft, and Guild Wars 2 as major influences on the market.
The report adds that the console-free region of China is the fastest-growing and largest market for PC games, with nearly $7bn in revenue.
With PC gamers currently in excess of 1bn, DFC expects the industry to grow to $25.7bn by 2016.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...evenue-in-2012
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March 28th, 2013, 23:43 Posted By: wraggster
EA Labels boss says concept was led by devs, but admits it could have been communicated better
EA Labels president Frank Gibeau has insisted that DRM had absolutely nothing to do with the game design of SimCity, which has been mired by served troubles and a player backlash since it launched.
SimCity’s ill-fated release quickly turned into a headache for the publisher, as users flocked to forums and social media to complain that they were unable to connect and play the always-online game. And attempts by the developer, Maxis, to explain the situation only fuelled more outcry.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at GDC this week, Gibeau said: “That's not the reality; I was involved in all the meetings. DRM was never even brought up once. You don’t build an MMO because you’re thinking of DRM - you’re building a massively multiplayer experience, that's what you're building.â€
The label boss said DRM was not a topic of internal discussion at EA, and he went on the emphasise that he believes DRM is no longer an option for the games business.
“DRM is a failed dead-end strategy; it’s not a viable strategy for the gaming business. So what we tried to do creatively is build an online service in the SimCity universe and that’s what we sought to achieve. For the folks who have conspiracy theories about evil suits at EA forcing DRM down the throats of Maxis, that’s not the case at all.â€
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...o-with-SimCity
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March 28th, 2013, 23:46 Posted By: wraggster
Hot on the heels of the Gtk+ 3.8 release comes GNOME 3.8. There are a few general UI improvements, but the highlight for many is the new Classic mode that replaces fallback. Instead of using code based on the old GNOME panel, Classic emulates the feel of GNOME 2 through Shell extensions (just like Linux Mint's Cinnamon interface). From the release notes:"Classic mode is a new feature for those people who prefer a more traditional desktop experience. Built entirely from GNOME 3 technologies, it adds a number of features such as an application menu, a places menu and a window switcher along the bottom of the screen. Each of these features can be used individually or in combination with other GNOME extensions."
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/03...w-classic-mode
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March 28th, 2013, 23:47 Posted By: wraggster
After being tweaked and polished for months with the help of feedback from pro gamers and enthusiasts alike, Razer's Project Fiona has finally come of age. Re-named as Razer Edge Pro, this gaming tablet is way more than a mere plaything. Razer Edge Pro is a beast which packs a dual-core Intel Core i7-3517U Ivy Bridge processor with 8GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GT 640M LE graphics card with 2GB of dedicated memory. All this in a small 7 by 11 by 0.8 inches wide frame which weighs only 2.14 pounds. Comparing the Razer Edge to anything else is tough, considering that it doesn't necessarily have a true competitor. However in a series of performance comparisons with other powerful tablets and ultraportable gaming laptops, Razer Edge performed better than the tablets but wasn't at par with ultraportable gaming laptops. For instance when comparing scores from 3DMark 11, the Edge Pro scored 2,503 points at entry settings and 504 points in extreme mode putting it ahead of both competing tablets, the Microsoft Surface Pro (1,055 Entry, 206 Extreme) and Samsung ATIV SmartPC (1,044 Entry, couldn't run at Extreme mode), but behind the gaming-focused laptops, like the the Maingear Pulse 11 (3,868 Entry, 724 Extreme) and the Razer Blade (3,458 Entry, 716 Extreme). What's baffling is that with all accessories incuded (gamepad dock and the console dock) the final price of the tablet is a cool $1,870, which most expensive than not only the two tablets tested but also the two gaming gaming laptops compared. It remains to be seen whether the Razer Edge Pro is something special or just on the edge of it.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/0...ablet-reviewed
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March 29th, 2013, 00:15 Posted By: wraggster
Portable gaming isn't what it once was. Sure, you can still snag a handheld device fromSony or Nintendo, but today's video game industry is far more diverse. Gamers on the go have no shortage of hardware to pick from: tablets, smartphones, gaming laptops and purpose-built handhelds are redefining what a mobile gaming platform is. Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan must have felt the winds of change blowing his way when he cooked up Project Fiona, now known as the Razer Edge. The company's marketing material frames the curious device as an all-in-one gaming arsenal; it's a tablet, says the product page, as well as a PC and console. Above all, it's modular, a souped-up tablet with a small collection of docks and cradles designed to scratch your gaming itch from all angles. All told, Razer calls it the most powerful tablet in the world. Kitted out with the specs of a mid-range gaming laptop, it may very well be that -- but we couldn't let the proclamation pass without giving it the once-over ourselves.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/28/razer-edge-review/
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March 29th, 2013, 00:31 Posted By: wraggster
The Company of Heroes 2 closed beta will start on April 2.  It will feature multiplayer and skirmish gameplay set across six maps. Players will be able to test 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 competitive gameplay, play alone or with friends against the AI, and will have access to the first 40 levels of progression.Initially open to eligible pre-order customers before being rolled out to more players "in the coming weeks", the beta will be hosted on Steam.Company of Heroes 2 producer Greg Wilson said: "We invite our fans to help us test and balance the game prior to launch, as well as see the changes we've already made since the Alpha test in December."Sega bought Company of Heroes studio Relic Entertainment from THQ in January. Shortly after, it pushed the Company of Heroes 2 release date from this month to June 25, 2013 in North America and Europe.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...off-next-week/
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March 29th, 2013, 21:04 Posted By: wraggster
Epic's new engine to scale from small to triple-A next-gen titles
Unreal Engine 4 will support mobile game development, Epic has revealed.
Announcing the news at GDC, Epic said that UE4 has been architected to power PC and next-gen console titles, but would also scale to mobile and web platforms, including HTML5 development.
Prior to GDC, Unreal Engine 4 had only been confirmed for PC and PS4 development.
For a full rundown of the specifications, development tools and rendering features in Unreal Engine 4, read our analysis here.
You can also view new sci-fi UE4 powered demo Infiltrator running in real-time on the engine, here.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...upports-mobile
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March 29th, 2013, 21:05 Posted By: wraggster
New developers, games and big stats OS
Microsoft revealed a plethora of impressive statistics today for Windows 8 as it makes a big push to bring more games and developres to the platform at GDC.
Speaking to Develop, Windows director of communications Christopher Flores said the computing giant has attracted a wave of developers to Windows 8, including PopCap, Glu, GameHouse and Disney, and revealed new and upcoming games such as Bejeweled Live, Samurai vs. Zombies and Temple Run Brave.
Flores also touted some impressive sale and installs stats that it hopes will attract yet more studios to develop for its platform.
He stated that 60 million Windows 8 licenses had been sold during the first two months of launch, matching the "record-setting" sales in a similar time period for Windows 7.
He added that to date, 670 million Windows 7 licenses had also been sold, and stressed that all of these users could upgrade the OS to Windows 8.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...velopment-push
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March 29th, 2013, 21:08 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft might want a piece of the mini-tablet market. The company has lowered the minimum screen resolution for Windows 8 tablets, from 1,366 x 768 pixels to 1024 x 768 pixels. "This doesn't imply that we're encouraging partners to regularly use a lower screen resolution," it wrote in an accompanying newsletter. "We understand that partners exploring designs for certain markets could find greater design flexibility helpful." As pointed out by ZDNet's Ed Bott—cited by other publications as the journalist who first noticed the altered guidelines—that lowered resolution "would allow manufacturers to introduce devices that are in line with the resolutions of the iPad Mini (1024 x 768) and the Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7 (both 1280 x 800)." Whatever the contours of the smaller-tablet market, it's certainly popular enough to tantalize any potential competitor. But if Microsoft plunges in, it will face the same challenges that confronted it in the larger-tablet arena: lots of solid competitors, and not a whole lot of time to make a winning impression. There are also not-inconsiderable hardware challenges to overcome, including processor selection and engineering for optimal battery life.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...dows-8-tablets
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March 29th, 2013, 21:17 Posted By: wraggster
 Bioware’s James Ohlen delivered a humble talk about the rise, fall and rise again of Star Wars: The Old Republic today at GDC 2013, looking back at the struggles it faced during its first year as a free-to-play game.Prior to launch, Ohlen admitted, Star Wars had problems. Competitors who were established and technologically ahead, a licensed engine that was unproven in MMOs, and a 300 man team. The latter was three times the usual size of a Bioware team, and faced unusual problems over ownership, efficiency and even technology – no engine has been built to handle that many people working on it.
The HeroEngine in particular had extra problems; it wasn’t designed to allow branching, so the team went months without a new build. In fact, even as late as a year before release, the game couldn’t handle more than ten people in a zone.All the basic elements of an MMO were a struggle. Building the auction house took four months and the best programmers in the company; the basic features of chat, guilds, PvP and others were still being developed throughout 2011 and took time away from innovation – meaning the team reserved their efforts for the story. This too caused problems, with the branching paths raising development costs even further, much more than the seemingly-expensive voice recording.At launch the team were happy with most things – it was aware that there wasn’t enough end game content, that critical social features were missing and that the public testing capability was limited. In December 2011, the game went live to become the fastest selling MMO in history, with 1.5 million sales and a stable launch.The problems started in January 2012. First, players were going through content faster than expected; content that was meant to last four months, what Bioware estimated to be 160 hours of content, actually only lasted a month. By the end of the first month, a third of Old Republic players – half a million – had finished the game and had just one operation to do, with no group finder to do it. Worse, the first update released PvP but included a critical bug.Soon the opinion leading fans started churning out, creating a cascade effect. Subscriber numbers slowly stopped rising and started to fall. Some concerns were addressed by the ‘Jesus patch’ in April, but not the emptying servers or missing group finder. By May they were down to 1.3 million subs and layoffs started. In the June the Seeds of Change patch finally introduced the group finder and emptied low-population servers – but subs kept dropping. And to top it all the Bioware founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, retired.In November 2012 the game went free to play. “Free to play was our chance to turn the service around,†said Ohlen. They had to increase the frequency of updates and make sure the service was better for new and returning players. The revamped subscriptions inside a free to play model, with the addition of the real-money Cartel Market, was funding this change.It worked. Between November and December subscriber numbers started rising again. Player concurrency got so high that login queues remerged. Most importantly, the new Cartel Packs worked. These are random items players can buy, without any restrictions on them reselling the contents. Exploiting the love of gambling, players can spend real money chasing rare items here, which didn’t bind to characters. “If you spend hundreds of dollars on packs, looking for an item, you don’t feel totally cheated as you can sell it on,†said Ohlen. After these the custom outfits are the second biggest seller.Today SWTOR is the second biggest subscription MMOG in western world. They’ve had two million new accounts since they went free to play and have thousands of new players every day. The Cartel Market is one of the biggest microtransaction systems that EA has, producing significant revenues. The end game is more robust and the team is smaller and more agile.Ohlen also revealed a few plans for the next few years, including several expansions, starting with the forthcoming Rise of the Hutt Cartel. “We’ll be doing innovative things that you haven’t seen in MMORPGs, things focused on the Star Wars License.†And Bioware’s MMO studio is now at the core of EA’s other forthcoming MMOs.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...o-play-switch/
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March 29th, 2013, 21:25 Posted By: wraggster
It's not that often you get solid numbers on sales for digital games, so the crowded talk on digital game sales was a welcome event. Digital game and downloadable content sales are growing at a rate of 33 percent year over year in the US and EU. Spending on games in China, which is almost all digital, is projected to grow over 10 percent annually for the next three years. And Asia is projected to dominate online and mobile games globally by 2016, according to the speakers.
Liam Callahan, games industry analyst from NPD, presented some interesting data on digital game content across the USA, UK, France and Germany. Together those four countries accounted for $10 billion in sales for 2012, with a US total of $5.9 billion followed by the UK at $1.7 billion, Germany with $1.4 billion and France with $1 billion. In the US, digital content now accounts for 40 percent of the total spend on games, up from 28 percent in 2010.
The annual spending on games in the USA for new retail games in 2012 was $7.1 billion, which represented about 48 percent of the total of $14.8 billion spent on games. That's right, the retail market for new games is now less than the combination of other revenue. The other revenue, according to NPD estimates, includes used games at $1.59 billion, digital games and DLC at $2.22 billion, subscriptions at $1.05 billion, social network gaming at $544 million, game rentals at $198 million, and $2.11 billion in mobile game sales. New retail game sales dropped over 22 percent from 2011, and used games dropped 17.1 percent. Digital full games and DLC combined grew 33.9 percent for the year, with subscriptions gaining 12.9 percent and mobile games growing 10.4 percent.
Callahan pointed out that each country seems to have a particular favorite category of device that it prefers, looking at the usage patterns of gamers. The UK had the highest percentage of console players, while France preferred portable consoles, Germany preferred computers, and the US was most partial to gaming on mobile and tablet platforms.
While Europe and the US had similar percentages of the population that owned mobile phones and played games, the amount of people who paid for mobile games were substantially different. In the USA, only 27 percent of gamers paid, while 40 percent of the players in Europe paid for mobile games. As far as time spent gaming, though, people in the UK, France and Germany all spent more time playing than people in the US did; in the case of the UK there was a 15 percentage point difference in favor of the UK. Average spending in the UK was nearly double that of the US ($16 instead of $9).
"In the USA, only 27 percent of gamers paid, while 40 percent of the players in Europe paid for mobile games"
The market in China is still changing, though its rapid growth (66 percent in 2008) has slowed down to only 19.4 percent in 2012. Subsequent years are expected to grow more slowly, according to Will Tao of iResearch. Additionally, the MMO is no longer the only significant type of game in China; gradually social games, game platforms (hubs with multiple simple games) and web games are claiming a growing share, projected to reach over 20 percent of the market in a few years. Mobile game spending is projected to cross $1 billion this year, on its way to an estimated $2.8 billion in 2016.
The top game company in China is Tencent; its revenue from online gaming is greater than the next nine companies combined. Chinese game demographics, according to Tao, skew younger than the USA with 37 percent of the gamers under 18; about two-thirds of the gamers are male. Perhaps because of their age, a third of Chinese gamers spend between 5 and 10 hours gaming in a typical day.
Finally, Tim Merel of Digi-Capital spoke about how online and mobile games are growing and fragmenting the market. He noted that while America tended towards 'value' markets like console games and subscription MMOs, countries such as China and Brazil were much more likely to see 'volume' games like mobile, social, and free-to-play MMOs as the dominant games. Merel projected that Asian games could dominate the online and mobile games markets globally, if trends continue. He pointed out that game mergers and acquisitions broke all records in 2012, and 8 out of 10 of the biggest acquisitions last year were with Asian acquirers.
Merel's advice to developers: "Start building relationships in Asia now," he said. It takes years to build those relationships, and when you are looking for an investor or an acquirer it's good to have those relationships to draw on. Merel suggested GDC attendees plan on going to the next China Joy conference to begin establishing contacts in Asia.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ing-33-percent
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March 29th, 2013, 21:30 Posted By: wraggster
Back when the Razer Edge pre-orders kicked off, on March 1st, the company wasn't quite clear as to when exactly the device would commence shipping to early adopters, only going as far as saying it would be later that very month. Well, the good news is today Razer took to its own Facebook page to announce that its new-era gaming PC is now on its way to folks who put in a pre-order "from the March batch." Meanwhile, Razer's hoping other gamers will also shell out the hefty amount of $999-plus for its novel piece of hardware, urging potential buyers on the social network to snag a unit (or two) before they go out of stock -- just don't expect to get a keyboard dock with your order, as the previously reported Q3 availability for this add-on remains intact.Above all, however, it's a great thing to see that what was once just a project, is now getting ready to arrive at consumers' doorsteps.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/r...-now-shipping/
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March 29th, 2013, 21:33 Posted By: wraggster
Gamers were down-right spoiled at this year's GDC with a full 17 minutes of beautifulBattlefield 4 in-game footage. Minds blown, AMD took responsibility for the part it played in the mess, admitting the demo was running on its Radeon HD 7990 graphics card. It's the first time the company's confirmed the existence of the long-fabled card, and went as far as calling the case-busting monster "the world's fastest." All we know is the card combines two of the HD 7970's Tahiti GPUs -- AMD's not sharing the full specs -- but the eagle-eyed folks at AnandTech have plucked a few extra details from the limited pictures available. They note the open-air cooling, which would require a drafty case but mean the fans should run fairly quiet, and that power consumption is likely to be no more than 375 watts. Not much to go on, we know, but we'll be waiting eagerly for AMD's full reveal. Now, your BF4 video awaits. (Warning: the game dialogue contains a few naughty words).
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/amd-radeon-hd-7990/
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Microsoft would certainly argue that its 
